The Pre-MIAC Kilt Classic Indoor Track and Field meet started with a bang – literally. As the gun began smoking, Freshman Gabrielle Brown launched herself over the hurdles, landing her first place in her heat. Both the men’s and women’s teams showed up to perform on this past Friday evening as this meet set the stage for the conference championship coming up on March 4 and 5 at Carleton College.

Assistant coach Josh Blaschko expresses how even though many skilled female athletes graduated last year, they have many young athletes competing this season.

“The good news is we have a lot of young talented [athletes] on the women’s side that are really picking it up, so I think we will be okay,” Blaschko said.

And he was right. The women finished third overall with a total of 105 points. In the 4 by 400 relay, runners Brianna Baker, Abby Cyr, Kristy Dellwo, and Marissa Fiecke grabbed the win. Fiecke, a freshman whom Blaschko says, “[Is] just stellar so far on the track,” also came in first for the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:00.92.

As the young women performed well, senior and captain Carolyn Saulsberry had a great night with the hurdles. After the preliminary round, the finals for the women’s 60 meter hurdles consisted of eight runners, five of which were Pipers. Saulsberry clenched the win with a time of 9.04. Saulsberry has been a stand-out competitor all four of her years at Hamline, yet this year.

“Everything is coming together for me,” Saulsberry said.

This season, Saulsberry has broken Hamline’s Triple Jump and Long Jump school records and plans to be attending Nationals in the upcoming weeks.

“I should be qualified for hurdles and am [working towards] solidifying my spot for triple jump,” Saulsberry said.

The men’s team dominated the competition taking first with 159 points, winning by a total of 58 points. Overall, great performances were seen by Thane Widmer and Matt Pratt in the 400-meter dash who took first and second, Nathaniel Jacobson and Sam Gatton in the 600 meter run who also took first and second, as well as snagging the top five spots for the shot put.

Throughout the season, the male throwers have truly executed in each meet, and are currently ranked among the top throwers in the country. The theme of young talent continues with the men as well. Freshmen Mitchell Maday and Eric Dolls took first and second in the meet last Friday.

“Our freshmen are just killing it,” Coach Blaschko said, “I’m really looking forward to seeing how our young group of guys finish because they are young, and some of these freshmen haven’t experienced the MIAC championship. There is a little pressure for them to perform.”

Sophomore Travis Jacobson who finished third at the meet for shot put said, “It’s always a good surprise seeing underclassman doing as well as they are, especially as freshmen!”

The future is bright for all of these young athletes as they continue to practice and get better.

“The throwers are improving, the sprinters are improving, I’m improving, really the whole team is improving each meet,” Jacobson said.

In track, improvement is all that really matters. Team wins and losses aren’t as important as individual growth.

“We have two meets that really matter, the indoor conference championship and the outdoor conference championship,” Blaschko said, “We can train through our early meets and perform at our best when we need to be.”

Next week the men’s and women’s teams head to Carleton College for the MIAC Championships on March 4 at 4:00 p.m. Then, for those who qualify the following week is Nationals at Grinnell College in Iowa on March 10.