Tommie men’s and women’s track and field hosted 22 teams at the Joe Sweeney Invitational Wednesday in Anderson Athletics and Recreation Complex and O’Shaughnessy Stadium.
The invitational is UST’s only home meet of the outdoor season. The men’s team secured two first-place finishes, while the women’s team dominated the meet with five first-place finishes out of the 20 events offered.
“The athletes really embrace being at home. We don’t get to do it very often. We host one outdoor meet a year, and the team truly loves being able to show off all their hard work in front of family and friends,” women’s coach Ashley Lucas said.
The stands of O’Shaughnessy Stadium were a rainbow of colors all afternoon due to fans from the many competing schools located nearby. Fans from the University of Minnesota, Bemidji State, Bethel, Hamline, St. Olaf and St. Cloud State all found themselves wandering UST’s campus to watch the meet.
The invitational is named for retired women’s cross country and track and field coach Joe Sweeney, a St. Thomas Athletic Hall of Fame cross country runner and the longest-tenured coach in St. Thomas athletics’ history.
The UST women’s team grabbed first-place finishes in the 400-meter, 400-meter hurdles, high jump and long jump. The Tommies also dominated the 3000-meter steeplechase, with sophomore Sophie Yetter winning with a time of 10 minutes, 30.19 seconds and sophomore Olivia Goebel finishing right behind with a time of 10:39.27 for second place.
UST senior Olivia Keller secured the win in the 400 hurdles with a time of 58.59, setting a new personal best. She also took first in the high jump in her final home meet.
“It is such an honor to compete with heart here every single time, and I can’t believe it’s the last one. I’m just filled with gratitude,” Keller said.
Lucas said she holds this class of seniors close because they were first-years when she began her role as head coach at UST.
“They have truly helped transform our program. Their first year, we scored 19 points at the conference championship for the first time, and last year, we broke 100 at the conference championship, and a lot of that is due to a lot of the seniors that are on the team,” Lucas said.
The UST men’s team finished with wins in the 110-meter hurdles and long jump. The team also grabbed second in the 400 hurdles, 5000-meter, discus throw, high jump, javelin throw and triple jump.
Tommie sophomore Ben Batalden took third in the 800-meter with a time of 1:52.63, setting a new personal best thanks to expert pacing from senior teammate Sam Gausmann.
“We told Sam to go out pretty quickly to take the St. Olaf guys out really fast, and then Ben was going to try to sit in the back and just get pulled along by all of them,” sophomore runner Ethan Foote said.
Gausmann led the pack after the first lap but then dropped out of the race to give Batalden the chance to set a new personal best. Foote said, “it all went to plan.”
“It’s always good to see your guys run well about two weeks out from conference. It’s good momentum building,” Foote said.
Both the men’s and women’s teams have one remaining meet in Madison, Wisconsin, this coming weekend before the Summit League Outdoor Championships hosted by North Dakota State from May 14-16 in the Terrence Dahl and Donna Beres Track Complex.
Owen Bell can be reached at bell9606@stthomas.edu.
