Women's Track & Field Overview/Updated July 2006

July 12, 2006
The St. Thomas women's track and field team has been a national force throughout the program's 28-year history. St. Thomas teams have had 12 top-10 NCAA Division III team finishes in the last 20 years, with 14 individual national champs and more than 90 All-Americans.

In 2005, the Tommies pulled off a rare sweep of the NCAA indoor and outdoor long jump title with different athletes. Kristal Grigsby won the indoor title and teammate Andretta Colley took the outdoor championship. Brigid Power also was an NCAA runner-up in the outdoor 1,500, won an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and was a CoSIDA Academic All-American. Those athletes helped UST sweep the MIAC team titles and take fifth in both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championship meets.

Grigsby came back to win the 2006 outdoor long jump crown and finish as a three-time NCAA champ. Fellow senior Molly Bauman was both an All-American and Academic All-American in 2006.

In 1997, the Tommies' 4x100 relay team became the first from a Minnesota college ever to win an NCAA relay championship. UST has had either a men's or women's relay team reach the NCAA finals 25 years in a row.

Coach Joe Sweeney was selected National Coach of the Year in 1995. In his 22-year tenure at St. Thomas, his teams have won 54 of the 72 possible MIAC team championships in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. His student-athletes have won All-American honors 160 times, including 23 NCAA individual titles.

The Tommies have swept the conference indoor and outdoor track championships six of the last seven seasons and have won 20 of the last 22 outdoor championships.

The Tommies have an eight-lane, all-weather outdoor track that was resurfaced in 2004, and they'll again host several meets there. They also have an indoor track in Coughlan Field House. The Tommies travel south for an annual spring trip and regularly face the best teams in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Approximately 45 athletes are on the roster, with everyone eligible to compete in the majority of meets.