Despite losses, Men's Track & Field eyes 2010 success

January 20, 2010

St. Thomas men's track and field made history in 2009. Last March, Coach Steve Mathre's unit made it 25-for-25 team titles in MIAC indoor competitions. In May, the Tommies won the conference outdoor crown for the 23rd time in 27 seasons.

Last May, St. Thomas placed third in the national meet as it scored 39 points in six different events, just one point out of second place. UST also became the first Minnesota university or college to win a men's relay as it swept the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.

St. Thomas had 23 provisional or automatic qualifiers to nationals, including eight indoors and 15 outdoors.

Mathre graduated five All-Americans -- James Ewer (jumps, sprints), Joe DeFrance (sprints), Brian Sames (800-mile), Kyle Brandon (mile) and Matt Boumeester (DM relay). Andrew Brueggen, who had the fourth-best hammer throw in the country last spring as a UST sophomore, transferred to St. Mary's to be closer to his hometown.

Mathre still returns a solid corps led by five All-Americans and one other NCAA qualifier, and has a few promising freshmen set for 2010.

"We'll still have some elite guys who can score a lot, but we should also be balanced and be able to score in most events," Mathre said. 

Senior 400-meter man Pat Jager returns to lead the sprints and relays. Jager became the first Division III male to anchor both the 4x100 and 4x400 relays to victories in the same national meet. He finished the 2009 indoor and outdoor seasons with six All-America honors. Only one other Tommie athlete has won six or more All-America honors in one year -– UST Athletic Hall of Famer Leonard Jones was a seven-time All-American both as a sophomore and as a junior in 1992 and 1993.

Seniors Greg Dowe (400-800) and Sam Moen (sprints) are other returning relay All-Americans. Junior hurdler Matt Griswold is back after placing fourth in the 400 hurdles and joining the first-place 4x400 relay at nationals. Griswold's 52.86 time in the 400 hurdles is tied for third all-time at UST, just .95 of a second out of first.

Two-sport standout Mike Hutton (shown at right) is also back. A two-time All-MIAC soccer player, Hutton ran 1:51.62 in the 800 meters as a freshman. That ranks seventh on the UST all-time list and just .60 of a second behind Sames' record time.

Another strong miler/distance man is sophomore Ben Sathre, who earned All-America honors in cross country last November with a 26th-place national finish. Senior Mike Connell and sophs Tyler Iverson and Crawford Hubbell add depth in the middle-distance and distance events.

All-MIAC performers Chris Victor and Anthony Kelly leads a deep group of pole vaulters. Joe Rohlfing and Cameron Roemhildt are versatile athletes who will contribute in the jumps, sprints and hurdles, and Ben Yorkovich will contribute at 400 meters.

At least three newcomers are expected to contribute -- Eyo Ekpo of Andover in the jumps; Aba Omot of Mahtomedi in the discus, and Eric Lois in the sprints.  Ekpo, a seven-time all-stater, was the Minnesota state large-class runner-up in the high jump (6-8) and triple jump (45-7) last June. He also took sixth in the long jump (22-7), and ran on the Huskies’ state champion 4x100 relay. 

St. Thomas men's and women's squads have won 99 all-time MIAC team titles in indoor and outdoor track and field and will look to surpass the 100 milestone this March 5-6 when the conference indoor meet is held at Carleton.