Tommie men, women eye MIAC indoor track titles

March 1, 2001
The St. Thomas men's and women's track and field teams are hoping to continue their dominance of MIAC Indoor Track and Field when the 2001 championships are held Friday night and Saturday in Collegeville.

Coach Steve Mathre's men's team will try to make it 17-of-17 in the history of MIAC indoor track. Concordia, St. John's, St. Olaf and Hamline are expected to be the closest pursuers.

Women's coach Joe Sweeney is looking to guide the Tommies to women's championship for the 14th time in 17 seasons. Concordia, Gustavus and St. Olaf are expected to be the Toms' closest challengers.

The men's team is competing without injured All-American sprinter Roman Cress, and may withhold injured All-American Ryan Kollmann. But the Toms still have a lot of sprint/relay punch. The Toms should score well in the 55, 200, 400 and 600 dashes and the 4x200 and 4x400 with All-Americans Jeremy Heckman, Nick Stahly, Justin Hall, Andrew Hilliard and Mark Bates are joined by freshman Tom Hart and sophomore football running back standout Jake Barkley.

The Toms also are expected to score well in the middle-distance/distance races with Dan Draine, Mike Gruba, Brian Preus, Levi Severson and Nick Maddox. Other expected top-four finishers are hurdlers Craig Benson and Parker Gunderson; Joe McCarney in the pentathlon; Chris Milton in the pole vault; and Andrew Kisielius in the long jump.

The Tommie women will try to ride the performances of sprinters Jill Ylonen and Heidi Vogel; All-American high jumper Katie Arnes; hurdlers Katie Bestul, Emily Menden, Kara Hedin and Arnes; middle-distance runner Tish Dusich; distance All-American Kelly Faris; pole vaulters Nicole Meidl and Carolyn Bastiens; and long/triple jumpers Crystal Dusich, Vogel, Meidl and Hedin.

see MIAC meet preview, links here