ARDEN HILLS, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica women's track and field team competed in the final day of championship competition on Saturday afternoon. The MIAC's best continued to battle it out for All-Conference accolades at the gorgeous new facility, nestled atop the hill on the Bethel University's campus. The Gustavus women repeated their team title from last year, while the Saints women held their ground from their 2022 finish to place tenth in the team standings.

Final Women's Team Standings
1. Gustavus - 154.5
2. St. Olaf - 143
3. Saint Benedict - 127.5
4. Bethel - 118
5. Carleton - 91
6. Hamline - 58
7. Concordia - 55
8. Macalester - 33
9. St. Catherine - 27
10. St. Scholastica - 24
11. Augsburg - 14
12. Saint Mary's - 13

TOP RESULTS
Day two consisted of all finals after Friday's preliminary heats, as well as the field event finals that were dispersed between the two days of competition. Junior captain Lily Beneke (Green Isle, Minn./Sibley East HS) set the ring on fire on Saturday afternoon to hoist a back-to-back title in the hammer throw. Successfully defending her title from last year, Beneke made every attempt count as she sent her final throw into orbit to eclipse the 55-meter mark. Her throw of 55.16m (180-11ft) establishesa slug of records, including: a new MIAC championship record, a new all-time MIAC record for the hammer, and a new facility record for the stadium. This All-MIAC performance gave Beneke ten valuable points for the Saints.

Leading into the running action for St. Scholastica on Saturday was the 4x100m relay team consisting of four first-year sprinters. The team of Kaitlyn Sautter (Princeton, Minn./Princeton HS), Kayla Nelson (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS), Jaden Ellefson (/South Ridge HS), and Ava Fink (Virginia, Minn./Rock Ridge HS) ran a cohesive race to move up from their rankings and cross the line in seventh place to put two points on the board for their team. The group's time of 50.64 seconds is the eighth fastest 4x100m relay in Saints history.

Fink didn't have to wait too long to get back on the track for the 100m final, which she punched her ticket to from Friday's prelim. Fink burst out of the blocks and drove down the stretch to finish eight overall and score her first individual point as a Saint. Fink's time of 12.64 seconds makes her the third fastest 100m runner in St. Scholastica history.

Proving why she's one of the top hurdlers in St. Scholastica school history, junior captain McKenzie Williams (Blaine, Minn./Blaine HS) ran another consistent race in Saturday's 100m hurdle finals to place seventh overall in a time of 15.35 seconds. In the 400m hurdles, Williams left it all on the line. Buying her time in the opening half of the one lap hurdle race, Williams made her move going into the final turn. Charging onto the homestretch and clearing each hurdle with ease, Williams moved through the field and crossed the line in a massive personal record time of 1:04.87 seconds to place fourth overall. This made Williams only the second Saint in school history to break the 65-second barrier in this event, and gave Williams another All-MIAC honorable mention award to her name.

All-MIAC senior captain Ellie Sholing (Wabasha, Minn./Wabasha-Kellogg HS) wasn't just content with running a personal record in the prelims to secure her spot in Saturday's 800m final, so she decided to do it all over again. Sholing sat deep in the chase pack in a race that went out at a nationally fast clip through 400m. Coming through the bell lap in a safe position, Sholing moved through a couple of runners on the backstretch to get back into scoring position. With a committed last 100m, Sholing held off her contenders to cross the line in sixth place in a personal record time of 2:19. 45. The performance earned Sholing another All-MIAC honorable mention award to add to her stockpile of accolades during her stellar four-year career for the Saints.

In the final event of championship weekend, the 4x400m relay team of Mia Case (Minocqua, Wis./Lakeland Union HS), Nelson, Anna Kiminski (Farmington, Minn./Farmington HS), and Ellie Sholing (Wabasha, Minn./Wabasha-Kellogg HS) got caught up in one of the deepest relay competitions the long-standing conference has seen. All four athletes ran the fastest relay splits of their career to get the baton around in 4:04.98 to place eighth. This was also the eighth-fastest mile relay team in St. Scholastica school history. This is the first Saints 4x400m relay team to crack the all-time top ten list since the 2017 season.

Freshman thrower Ella Engen (Clearbrook, Minn./Clearbrook-Gonvick HS) has a successful first MIAC championship appearance as she made finals in the discus throw with a huck of 35.48m (116-05ft) and just narrowly missed finals in the hammer with her best throw of 42.82m (140-06ft). Both of her marks are personal records. Engen's discus mark places her seventh all-time on the Saints record board, while her hammer mark puts her in sixth.

UP NEXT
This marks the end of the season for the majority of the St. Scholastica track and field roster. However, with a few athletes still on the hunt for nationals qualifying marks, and others seeking fast times to hang their hats on for the summer, a small contingent will travel to UW-LaCrosse next Thursday to take part in the Last Chance Meet. Stay tuned for updates and information on Saints track and field's post-season news.