All the indoor track competition anyone could want was brought together last weekend at St. Johnıs for the MIAC Championship. Both the Ole men and womenıs squads were present for this high-octane competition.

The Ole men dominated the pentathlon, with three athletes among the top eight scorers. Leading this group was junior Cory Dingels, one of two Ole men headed to the NCAA Indoor Championship meet this weekend.

On Friday the rest of the track action commenced. Sophomore Megan Daymont had another powerful weekend, with first place in the 1000- and 1500-meter runs, and achieving an all-time personal best.

For the men, senior co-captain Mark Bresnan dominated his events with first place finishes in the 600- and 800-meter runs.

St. Olafıs men and women fought for every place they could get in their events. Coach Chris Daymont seemed particularly pleased with her female athletes.

Regarding their fifth place team finish, she stated: "I donıt know where we could have gotten any more points."

Overcoming all expectations by far, the menıs track team put up an explosive 140 points in the meet, second only to strongly favored St. Thomas with 158 points.

All the sports critics were amazed by St. Olafıs performance on the track. The men were awfully close to taking away the top spot from a St. Thomas team that hasnıt lost the MIAC in years.

At one point, the Oles lead the Tommies by two points, but they came up just short. With athletes finishing highly in 17 of the 20 events, the men certainly had a recipe for success.

Menıs coach Bill Thornton said, "If we ever scored in every event, Iıd retire." The Oles certainly had a meet beyond comparison.

The last stop for indoor track now is the NCAA Indoor Championship meet in Oshkosh, WI. Two men and two women from St. Olaf have earned the chance to go compete with the top Division III tracksters in the country.

For the women, sophomore sensation Megan Daymont will be running in the 1500-meter race. She made the trip last year, but was at the bottom of the field.

Valuing last yearıs experience, she said, "Iım excited rather than nervous this time."

Also making the trip from the womenıs team is senior pole-vaulter Janet Hengel. She qualified for the national meet automatically after she cleared a height over 11ı2".

To train for this weekend, Dingels said that he "mostly just needs to keep his legs loose and try to recover from this past weekend."

The fourth Ole going to nationals, senior Mark Bresnan, was unsure of his bid and had to wait until this past Monday night to find out the news. He qualified to compete in the 800-meter race against eight other athletes in Oshkosh this weekend.

For the rest of the team members that didnıt qualify for Nationals, things arenıt about to cool off. They canıt afford to get out of shape with outdoor track season around the corner.

Senior co-captain Anne Sateren said, "The whole team will be there at Nationals either in body or in spirit." Win or lose, these four national qualifiers will have plenty of support behind them as they strive to uphold Ole Pride this weekend.