DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica track and field team had four athletes competing in Naperville, Illinois at the Gregory Invitational on Wednesday and Thursday, while one competitor was taking part in the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Qualifier on Thursday in one last attempt to qualify for nationals.
 
Russert Sets Program Record in the Heptathlon
It was a great start for Russert in the Heptathlon on Wednesday. Russert set personal-bests in three of the four events and was in second with 2,777 points after day one.
 
She began Wednesday by finishing third in the 100m hurdles with a time of 15.21. She then cleared a personal-best outdoor height of 5'0.25" (1.53m) in the high jump to tie for fifth in the event. She followed that with an overall personal-best toss in the shot put with a mark of 35'0.25" (10.67m) to win that event. She completed the first day with another overall personal-best time in the 200m dash at 26.72.
 
On Thursday, she began by placing fifth in the long jump with a leap of 16'8.5" (5.09m). She followed that with a season-best toss of 93'6" (28.50m) in the javelin throw and wrapped up the event with a personal-best time of 2:32.00 in the 800m to finish fourth overall with a point total of 4,477 points. That bettered her previous personal-best by 408 points.
 
That point total currently puts her 12^th in NCAA Division III. Reminder that the top 22 declared point totals qualify for next week's NCAA Division III Championships in Ohio.
 
Cerar Sets PR in the Decathlon
Frank Cerar (Plainview, Minn./Plainview-Elgin-Millville HS) set three personal-best marks in the first five events on Wednesday. He began with a personal-best time of 11.91 in the 100m dash. He added another personal-best mark in the long jump with a leap of (6.04m). In the next event he had a season-best toss in the shot put with a mark of 35'6.5" (10.83m).
 
To finish the first day, he cleared a personal-best height in the high jump of 5'10.75" (1.80m). He recorded 3,053 points on Wednesday, which was 270 points ahead of his PR pace in the event.
 
Cerar began Thursday by setting a personal-best time in the 110m hurdles with a time of 16.39 to place fifth in that event. He followed that up with a big PR in the discus throw with a mark of 122'4" (37.29m) to finish second in that event.
 
He matched a personal-best height in the pole vault, clearing 12'7.5" (3.85m) for another runner-up finish. After the javelin throw, he wrapped up the decathlon with another personal-best time in the 1,500m run, posting a time of 4:47.60 to finish fifth in that event.
 
Cerar's final point total would be 5,927 points, which is 481 points better than his previous personal-best tally. He would finish sixth in the event.
 
Gallagher and Gibson at Gregory Invite
Jacob Gallagher (Lisbon, N.D./Lisbon HS) competed in the 10,000m run Wednesday night in Naperville and finished second with a time of 33:10.18. Unfortunately, he did not better his season time.
 
In her final race, Taylor Gibson (La Crescent, Minn./La Crescent HS) broke her own program record in the 800m run on Thursday with a time of 2:13.09 to finish second in the event. However, that time will only put her around the top 30 in the country.
 
Ludwig in La Crosse
Brittany Ludwig (Alexandria, Minn./Jefferson HS) competed in the discus throw at the UW-La Crosse Qualifier Thursday night. She would finish with a top mark of 126'5" (38.54m).
 
Up Next
The list of national qualifiers will be made public by 8 a.m. Saturday morning on NCAA.com.