MANKATO, Minn. – The Winona State track and field team opened its season by winning four events and posting an automatic and provisional qualifying mark at the Chuck Petersen Open at Myers Fieldhouse Saturday in Mankato.
Defending NCAA Division II Indoor National Champion Kaitlyn Long opened her sophomore campaign with an automatic qualifying mark in the weight throw, winning the event with a 67' 6" toss, nearly matching her title-winning throw last winter.
Long's teammate, senior Abbey Ristow, finished second with a 62' 2 ½" (20.57m) throw, which is tied for the third-best throw in school history and earned a provisional mark.
Junior Megan Seidl won the 200-meter dash title with a time of 25.69. Teammate Brittany Schyvinck finished 2nd to finish sixth on the WSU all-time list in the event with a time of 25.91.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Seidl, Schyvinck, and seniors Katie Bagley and Taylor Vogel earned the victory with a time of 3:59.04, which cracked the top 10 times in WSU history.
Junior Andrea Bartz earned the triple jump crown with a leap of 37' 2 ½" (11.34m). Junior Hailey Deschaine took second in the long jump with a mark of 18' 2 ¼" (5.54m), which ranks as the seventh best jump in WSU history.
Freshman Maria Wrage and sophomores Amanda Schaefer and Olivia Fixsen all tied for second in the high jump at 5' 3", tied for 10th in WSU history.
Long added a second-place finish in the shot put with a toss of 42' ¾ (12.82m).
Fixsen finished third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.26, which is fifth in WSU history.
Bagley also added a third-place finish in the 800-meter run, coming in third with a time of 2:20.61, while freshman Ali Johnson's time of 2:22.82 is 10th in WSU history.
WSU is idle until 2016 when it competes in the Saint Mary's Opener on January 16 in Winona.
