Coach Steve Mathre's Tommies had a 3.17 grade-point average for 2009-2010 school year. That put them among the top 50 Division III squads in best gpas.

St. Thomas also had six individuals honored (a cumulative gpa of 3.30 or higher, plus an NCAA provisional or automatic time/mark in 2010). Those honorees were All-Americans Pat Jager, Eyo Ekpo, Ben Sathre, Greg Dowe and Sam Moen as well as freshman Eric Lois.

The Tommies swept the team crowns at the MIAC indoor and outdoor meets. They also had a CoSIDA Acadenic All-American  (jager) for the eighth time in 12 seasons.

Jager becomes the sixth Tommie Academic All-American thus far in 2009-2010. Senior Nikki Arola is also under consideration for the women's track and field/CC AAA team set to be announced Thursday. If Arola (3.97 gpa) repeats as an Academic All-American, it would give the Tommies seven on the school year, one off the conference record of eight achieved by UST in 2005-06.

Jager anchored the Tommies' 4x100 and 4x400 relays to NCAA championships in May 2009 -- the second Division III athlete to do so in the same day in 35 years. He placed 3rd in the NCAA 400 meters and ran on 8th-place 4x400 relay in the 2009 NCAA indoor meet. Last month at outdoor nationals, he was seeded sixth in 4x100, fifth in 400 and ninth in 200 but missed the finals with a broken foot. 

Jager led the Tommies to seven of a possible eight conference team titles in his era as he collected eight firsts and eight seconds in conference meets on his career in the open 200 and 400 or on sprint relays. Last month in the MIAC outoor meet in Winona, he was named the Outstanding Track Athlete after he contributed to 38 points and three victories.

The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America program is administered by CoSIDA,  a 2,000-member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The Academic All-America program annually honors more than 1,600 student-athletes who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Eligible sports for men's at-large consideration include fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade- point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his current institution, and be nominated by his sports information director.

Click here for CoSIDA news release:

http://www.cosida.com/news.aspx?id=2727

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St. Thomas Academic All-Americans -- 2009-2010 (7)

Women's Track and Field/CC: Nikki Arola, SR (1st team)

Men's Track and Field/CC: Pat Jager, SR (1st team)

Baseball: Matt Schuld, SR (1st team)***

Softball: Alison Wright, SR (1st team)***; Marta Radcliffe, SR (1st team)

Football: Ben Wartman, JR (1st team)

Men's Soccer: Elliot Amundson, JR (3rd team)

--***College Division Academic All-American of the Year
 

Jager was one of three MIAC males to make the first team along with Macalester's Wade Ekstrom and Gustavus' John Kennedy.

Jager anchored the Tommies' 4x100 and 4x400 relays to NCAA championships in May 2009 -- the second Division III athlete to do so in the same day in 35 years. He placed 3rd in the NCAA 400 meters and ran on 8th-place 4x400 relay in the 2009 NCAA indoor meet. Last month at outdoor nationals, he was seeded sixth in 4x100, fifth in 400 and ninth in 200 but missed the finals with a broken foot. 

Jager led the Tommies to seven of a possible eight conference team titles in his era as he collected eight firsts and eight seconds in conference meets on his career in the open 200 and 400 or on sprint relays. Last month in the MIAC outoor meet in Winona, he was named the Outstanding Track Athlete after he contributed to 38 points and three victories.

The ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District team is part of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America program, administered by CoSIDA,  a 2,000-member organization consisting of sports public relations professionals for colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The Academic All-America program annually honors more than 1,600 student-athletes who have succeeded at the highest level on the playing field and in the classroom. Eligible sports for men's at-large consideration include fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

Top student-athletes from non-Division I programs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ontario and Manitoba are eligible for inclusion on the District V team. To be eligible, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his current institution and be nominated by his sports information director.

The three-day meet starts Thursday, hosted by Balldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.

Tommie freshman Eyo Ekpo is seeded sixth in the triple jump (48-4). 

Senior All-American Pat Jager will compete in two events. He's seeded seventh in the 400 meters (47.67), and will run on the 4x100 relay with Sam Moen, Matt Griswold and Joe Rohlfing. That relay is seeded ninth with a best of 41.41. The Tommies won the 4x100 at the 2009 national meet. 

In the 400 hurdles, Griswold (52.79) and Rohlfing (53.36) are seeded seventh and 17th, respectively.

Sophomore All-American Mike Hutton is seeded foourth in the 800 meters (1:50.98). Sophomore All-Americam Ben Sathre is seeded 14th in the 5,000 (14:34.83).

St. Thomas placed third in the 2009 outdoor meet and tied for 23rd at the 2010 NCAA indoor meet. In the March indoor nationals, Huton took fourth in the 800 and Ekpo placed fifth in the triple jump. 

Click here for official meet webpage:

http://www.bw.edu/athletics/10tracknationals/

Sathre topped a field of 61 runners and lowered his career-best by 10 seconds. The time ranks eighth best on the UST all-time list and is the fastest 5,000 run by a Tommie since 1994.

Sathre has had a breakthrough this school year for the Tommies. In cross coumntry he placed third in the MIAC, third in the region and in his first NCAA meet placed 26th at nationals. As a freshman in fall 2008, he was 14th in the MIAC and 23rd in the regionals. In 2010 indoor track, Sathre was conference runner-up in the 3,000 and 5,000 to collect 16 key points in a seven-point team victory.

Greg Dowe attempted to lower his season-best time in the 800 meters but placed seventh in 1:52.71.

His time just missed an NCAA automatic standard by a mere 0.18 of second but ranks third best in Division IIi this outdoor season. It broke Brian Sames' 2009 school record of 1:51.02. Sames had broken a 22-year-old school record of 1:51.18 held by Mark Defor.

Hutton's previous best was 1:51.62 set as a freshman in May 2009. He placed fourth in the 800 at the NCAA indoor meet in March to earn All-America honors.

Senior Greg Dowe was second in a season-best time of 1:52.52.

Hutton also ran on the runner-up 4x400 relay which clocked 3:15.97. UST also took fifth in the 4x100 in 41.97.

PHOTO: Mike Hutton

In the 400 hurdles, Joe Rohlfing improved his NCAA provo time to 14th best in the nation as he cllocked 53.36. Ryan Chapman was sixth in 56.19. In the high jump, Eyo Ekpo was seventh in 6-5. In the pole vault, Andy Edmounds was eighth in 14-7 1-4. Devin Dirth won the javelin in 155-6.

On the women's side, Erin Sprangers improved her provisional qualifying time in the 800 meters by one second as she clocked 2:11.75, which now ranks 11th on the national list. Larissa Peyton placed seventh in 2:14.09.

UST improved its NCAA provo time in the 4x400 as it placed fourth in 3:51.4. UST also placed fourth in the 4x100 in 47.91.

Other women's placewinners were Allie Metzler, first in the 5,000 (17:59.76); Laura Janas, fourth in the 100 hurdles (15.57); Jenna Lewis, fifth in the hammer (164-1); Becky Theisen, eighth in the long jump (16-5); and Amy Maas (134-4) and Felisha Willaert (129-11), who took sixth and eighth in the discus.

Click here for complete results:

http://entries.pttiming.com/system/files/1661/original/ResultsUWLLC2.htm?1274412312

Senior All-American Pat Jager was named the top Male Track Athlete and freshman All-American Eyo Ekpo was named the top Male Field Athlete. The two had a hand in 76 team points to help the Tommies hold off Hamline for the team championship. UST had won 24 of the last 28 outdoor conference titles.

Bethel hurdles champ Taylor Ferda was recognized for the Most Outstanding Male Performance. Hamline's Paul Schmaedeke was named Coach of the Year.

Jager contributed to 38 team points as he won the 200 and 400 meters, anchored the winning 4x100 relay and the runner-up 4x400 relay. He finished his MIAC career with eight firsts and eight seconds in relays and individual events, while helped the Toms win seven of eight team championships.

A five-time All-American in 2009, Jager is ranked among the top 15 in Division III in the 200, 400, 4x100 and 4x200. Last May he becamse just the second male athlete in 35 years to anchor the 4x100 and 4x400 relays to victory in the same day at the national meet. Those also were the first track relay victories in history for a Minnesota collegiate men's team.

Ekpo scored 28 individual points on the two-day meet. He won the triple jump and long jump and took second in the high jump. His winning mark in the triple jump (48-4) ranks fourth in the nation this outdoor season. He placed fifth in the 2010 NCAA indoor meet in the triple jump. Ekpo also won the Top Field Athlete awards after the MIAC indoor when he was first in the triple, second in the long jumo and third in the high jump.

The Tommies will have some athletes competing this Friday at some Last Chance meets.

In MIAC competition, St. Thomas won nine regular-season and four playoff crowns. Men’s swimming and diving led the parade as it won the program’s first conference championship since 1954.

Repeat MIAC team champions in purple were volleyball, men’s basketball, baseball as well as both men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field.

Two especially unique team streaks continued –- UST’s indoor men’s track made it 26-for-26 in all-time MIAC titles, while Tommie softball made it 7-for-7 in softball playoff crowns with an amazing 21-0 all-time record.

Along with the nine championships, St. Thomas also had conference runner-up places in football, men’s golf and women’s soccer.

That balance helped it sweep the conference all-sport championships for men and women for the third year in a row.

The men’s 25-point victory over runner-up Gustavus nearly produced a record margin. In 1990-91, St. Thomas’ men built a 26.5-point winning cushion. The Gustie women had an impressive 2009-2010 year with five championships and three runner-up places, but the Tommies were able to outscore them 109.5-100.5.

St. Thomas had top-four MIAC regular-season finishes in 21 of 22 sports. The lone sport not in the top four, women’s basketball, took fifth out of 12 teams, but later won three road games in five days to capture the conference playoff title and qualify for the NCAA playoffs.

For the second year in a row, UST qualified for conference playoffs in all 11 sports that have a postseason format. Four Tommie teams -– women’s basketball, men’s hockey, baseball and softball -- won playoff championships.

Of the five MIAC men’s sports with playoff formats, four top seeds lost in the playoffs. Tommie baseball was the only men’s program to win both the conference regular-season and playoff titles, but it needed four elimination-game wins last weekend to pull that off.

Tommie baseball became just the third MIAC program to reach 30 all-time regular-season championships. Baseball joins Gustavus men’s tennis (39th) and St. John’s football (31).

Nine other MIAC programs have won 23 or more all-time championships -- Tommie men’s outdoor track (29); Tommie men’s hockey (27); St. Olaf men’s swimming (27); Tommie women’s outdoor track (26); Tommie men’s basketball (25); Gustavus women’s tennis (25); Gustavus men’s golf (25); Tommie men’s cross country (24); and Tommie women’s indoor track (23).

Directors' Cup boost

Tommie teams qualified for NCAA championships in nine of a possible 16 sports -- volleyball, men’s cross country, women’s soccer, football, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s hockey, softball and baseball. (Women’s cross country missed qualifying by one point with a tie at the regional. )

The Tommies are looking to post another top-15 finish in the Division III Directors Cup scoring, thanks in part to top-10 national finishes in football (tie fifth), plus volleyball, softball and men’s hockey (all tied for ninth), with baseball yet to be determined.

UST also will collect Cup points in women’s soccer, men’s cross country, men’s and women’s basketball, plus swimming and track and field for men and women.

Three Tommie men's teams enjoyed unusual national exposure -- football, baseball and men’s basketball were ranked in the top five in Division III.

Road-sweet-road

It’s fitting that the Tommies’ four MIAC playoff championship were secured not on campus or even in the Twin Cities, but outstate in St. Joseph, St. Peter, Mankato and Dundas.

The Tommies’ 2009-2010 team success has been especially impressive considering the obstacles many teams had to overcome. Due to construction of new on-campus athletic facilities, St. Thomas came into this school year without a home volleyball/basketball arena or indoor field house. It lost its swimming pool and weight room in December. Coaches’ offices were consolidated and spread out, and teams often trained in split shifts or at all hours of the day.

Volleyball, basketball and tennis teams competed off campus all school year. Even the home Tommie-Johnnie basketball game left campus for the first time in 56 seasons.

The swimming teams had one home meet and used three different pools to train during their season. Baseball and softball had to travel off campus to practice for seven weeks leading up to spring break.

Yet those teams still found a way. Volleyball shared the MIAC title, was NCAA region runner-up and finished 26-8. Men’s basketball won its fifth conference title in a row and finished 23-4. Women’s basketball peaked late, made the NCAA playoffs and won 20 games. Men’s swimming won an historic championship, and the women took third. The men’s and women’s tennis teams each won 11 matches and had top-four MIAC finishes. Baseball and softball each swept the conference regular-season and playoff titles, and softball hit 40 wins as was region runner-up. Track and field repeated as indoor and outdoor champions.

It's tempting to look ahead 90 days to the August opening of the Anderson Athletics and Recreation Center. But Tommie fans should pause and appreciate the accomplishments of their student-athletes and coaches over the last nine months.

The challenges made the championships that much sweeter.

Click here to view more Greg Smith sction photos:

www.gsmithsports.com

Freshman Eyo Ekpo won the triple jump and long jump. (Greg Smith photo)

Cameron Roemhildt in the triple jump. (Greg Smith photo)

Matt Griswold was 110 hurdles runner-up. (Greg Smith photo)

Sam Moen (left) ran on the winning 4x100 each of his four seasons. (Greg Smith photo)

Mike Hutton and Greg Dowe had top-four finishes in the 800. (Greg Smith photo)

Ben Sathre (Greg Smith photo)

Pat Jager won the 200 and 400. (Greg Smith photo)

Tommie seniors take the trophy. (Greg Smith photo)

The Tommie men scored 178.5 points to top runner-up Hamline by 23.5 points. UST has now won 24 of the last 28 MIAC outdoor team crowns.

The UST women scored 168 points to top runner-up Gustavus by 35.5 points. Joe Sweeney won his 65th MIAC women's team title in cross country and indoor/outdoor track and field. UST has now won 24 of the last 26 MIAC outdoor team titles.

It's the eighth and ninth MIAC regular-season team championships this school year for St. Thomas.

Coach Steve Mathre's men's team scored in 17 of 22 events with points from 21 different athletes.

Senior All-American Pat Jager contriuted to 38 points and three wins and freshman Eyo Ekpo scored 28 points with three individual top-two places in the jumps. Matt Griswold was a part of four top-two finishes in the hurdles and relays.

Senior Sam Moen ran on the winning 4x100 relay for the fourth year in a row. Griswold, Moen, Joe Rohlfing and Jager clocked 41.41 -- the fifth-best time this season in Division III. Moen also took second in the 100 and third in the long jump and finished his MIAC career with 18 top-seven conference finishes indoors and outdoors. 

Jager had a monster day on Saturday. He won the 200 (21.50) and 400 (47.67), anchored the 4x100, and ran on the runner-up 4x400 (3:16.16). His 400 time is third fastest this year in Division III, and his 200 is the eighth fastest.

Ekpo won the triple jump (48-4) on Saturday -- the fourth best mark in that event in Division III this season. Ekpo won the long jump and took second in the high jump on Friday.

Griswold was second in the 400 hurdles in 52.79, second in the 110 hurdles in 15.18, and also ran on the winning 4x100 and second-place 4x400. His 400 hurdles time is fifth best this season in Division III.

The 400 hurdles produced 21 points for UST. After Griswold's runner-up finish, Joe Rohlfing (53.80) was third, Gavin Yseth (55.40) and Ryan Chapman (55.46) placed 3-6-7.

Mike Hutton (1:53.29) and Greg Dowe (1:54.02 placed 2-4 in the 800. In the pole vault, UST placed 3-4-5 with Anthony Kelly (15-0), Ben Michel (14-8) and Andy Edmunds (14-2). In the steeplechase, Tyler Iverson (9:33.56) and Mike Connell (9:41.09) placed fifth and seventh. Ben Yorkovich was sixth in the 400 (49.20). Cameron Roemhildt was eighth in the triple jump (43-3 3-4).

Click here for final men's results:

http://www.miac-online.org/documents/2010/5/14/miacmenod10.html?id=1806

Friday story

Freshman Eyo Ekpo won the long jump (22-3 1-2) and took second in the high jump (6-7 1-2) for 18 big points on Friday and the Tommie men hold a 5.5-point lead over Hamline with 13 events to go in the MIAC Track and Field Championships.

The two-day competition will conclude Saturday afternoon in Winona.

UST has 57.5 points to the Pipers’ 52. The Toms, who had a 14-point lead on Hamline after last week’s decathlon, scored 21 points in Friday's long jump.

Hamline scored 21 points in the shot put, and 16 in the javelin and 10 in the 10,000.

Cameron Roemhildt (21-4) and Sam Moen (20-9 3-4) placed second and sixth in the long jump. In the high jump, Joe Rohlfing (6-4) took fourth and Pat Ecklund (6-2) was eighth.