While the student body enjoyed Mayfest on campus, the track and field team headed across the street to compete at the Bulldog Open at UMD. On a sunny Saturday in Duluth, the community came together to celebrate as the local trio of UMD, UWS, and St. Scholastica faced off against each other. 

Ella Stritesky (Rogers, Minn./Rogers HS) continued her elevated outdoor season with another monster personal best in the hammer throw. Displaying an impressively consistent series yet again, her best mark of 51.15m topped the field and again improved her performance as the fourth farthest hammer thrower in school history. The mark also moved Stritesky closer to a national qualifier, as she now sits #26 on the NCAA list. 

Ella Engen (Clearbrook, Minn./Clearbrook-Gonvick HS) also executed a solid series in the hammer throw to snag a runner up finish. Engen's best throw on the day was 45.68m. 

First year thrower Ella Heins (Ogilvie, MN/Ogilvie High School) got into the action with a third place finish in the discus. Her personal best toss of 33.22m was just shy of the Saints top ten performance list. 

Elli Schritz (Mora, Minn./Mora HS) hit a season best of 10.31m in the triple jump to finish third overall. 

Toria Strampe (Austin, Minn./Austin HS) returned to action for the Saints with a spectacular runner-up performance in the high jump. Strampe cleared a height of 1.52m. 

On the track, the 4x100m relay team of Shayna Wick (Poplar, WI/Northwestern High School), Kayla Nelson (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS), Jaden Ellefson (Saginaw, Minn./South Ridge HS), and Ava Fink (Virginia, Minn./Virginia HS) won the race by a landslide. Their time of 50.14 seconds is good for eight best in program history and currently ranks fifth in the MIAC. 

Shortly after the relay, Fink qualified for the 100m finals with a time of 12.81 seconds. She came back to place sixth overall in the final. 

In the 1500m run, Grace McCormick (Duluth, Minn./Denfeld HS) raced to a personal best and a third place finish in a time of 4:57.67. This result scooted McCormick up to eight on the Saints all time list. 

Wrapping up the action with the 4x400m relay, the team of Ellefson, McCormick, Regan DeWitt (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji HS), and Nelson finished second overall in a time of 4:14.00. 

Not much stands between the Saints and the MIAC Championships on May 9th and 10th at Macalester College. As the team continues to prepare for their peak, a squad will head down to Hamline University to solidify final qualifying marks. 

See the full list of results from the Bulldog Open here.

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