NORTHFIELD, Minn. - The Gustavus women's track team sits in sixth place after 10 events at the MIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships, highlighted by a first-place finish in the 5000-meter by Gustavus senior Molly Liston (Richfield, Minn.). 

Liston was the only champion on day one for the women, finishing with a time of 17:13.28, two seconds behind her personal record and still 17 seconds ahead of the school record coming into the season. The Richfield native was able to outkick Carleton's Hannah Preisser after the two traded places with each other multiple times during the event. In the final straightaway, it was Liston who had more gas left in the tank, pushing to finish a second faster than the Knight and set a facility record. 

Women's triple jump, which ranks 16th in the nation as an event squad by the USTFCCCA, had another strong showing at the conference meet, with a pair of Prior Lake first-years putting the MIAC on notice for the next three years. Ava Loftness finished third for the Gusties, setting a new Division III 42nd-best mark, a 11.25m, which was just 0.2m away from the MIAC championship. The other top mark was from Kaylee Hawks, who finished just behind Hawks in fourth place with a leap of 10.92m. Overall, the women in triple jump accounted for 11 points, tied with Saint Benedict for the most received in the event. 

Sophomore Emily Podulke (Hastings, Minn.) bounced back after the pentathlon yesterday with an 8.73 time in the 55-meter hurdles to qualify for finals tomorrow. The mark of 8.73 is 0.24 better than her time on Thursday in the pentathlon and would not have qualified her for finals if she ran it again. 

The 4x200-meter team, consisting of senior Isabel Fynboh (Morris, Minn.), sophomore Allison Stacy (Maple Grove, Minn.) and first years Ava Loftness (Prior Lake, Minn.) and Sophia Vogel (Prinsburg, Minn.) rounded off the honors for the team on Friday, finishing sixth with a time of 1:47.41. 

On the first day of full team competition, the women's team garnered 30 points to sit in sixth heading into the final day. Action begins again at 11:45 a.m. tomorrow with the high jump and track events starting at 1:00 p.m. with the 55-meter hurdles finals.