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Men's Track Hopes to Finish Strong in 2001

Bill Thornton
March 27, 2001

The Men?s Track & Field squad finished fourth by scoring 93.5 points in the 2000 MIAC Outdoor Championships. Returning placers from the 2000 Championships include:

Senior tri-captains Jonathon Pearce, who finished fourth in the 400 meter dash and Mark Bresnan, All-American and School Record Holder. Bresnan completed his 2000 outdoor season by finishing seventh in the NCAA 800 meter Championships in a school record time of 1:51.04.

Junior Tim Johnson finished seventh in the 3000 meter steeplechase and junior All -American and School Record Holder Cory Dingels finished second in the long jump and third in the high jump. Dingels concluded his 2000 Indoor season with a fourth place finish in the long jump and seventh place in the high jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships. His 7.25 M (23?-9 1/2") is the St. Olaf record in the long jump.

Sophomore Marcus Hanson finished third in the shot put and will have to carry the burden of responsibility in the throwing events for the Oles in 2001.

Senior tri-captain, Jon Berg finished third in both the decathlon and long jump and has been a two -time national qualifier in the decathlon.

Junior Eric Droher was fourth in the pole vault, while sophomore John Gensmer finished in a seventh place tie in the pole vault and junior Mark Murakami placed seventh in the decathlon.

Many of the remaining points came in the relay events where they finished first in the 4 x 800 M Relay and third in the 4 X 400 M Relay. The Oles could field very strong relay teams in 2001 because of the great depth the team possesses.

The Oles appear to have helped themselves in 2001 in the sprint events where they lacked power in 2000. The acquisition of Sophomore, Ryan Noreen, who joins the Ole sprint group as a transfer from the University of Iowa, and first -year Matt Johnson, who was a conference sprint champion in high school. Sophomore, Gaute Johnsen appears to be sprinting much better in 2001 after a year of track & field experience. The Sprint Group can expect a great deal of help from juniors David Olson, and Matt Wieland and sophomore, Erlend Johnsen.

Also expected to help the team in 2001 is sophomore Neal Olson who was injured much of the 2000 outdoor season. Before his injury Neal contributed greatly during the 2000 Indoor season by placing seventh in the pole vault and eighth in the pentathlon in the MIAC Indoor Championships.

The jumping events will be stronger as sophomore Jared Anderson continues to improve and the throwing events expect to gain some help from senior, Dan Streit in the hammer throw.

Many contributions are expected from the relatively young but talented Distance and Middle Distance runners. They include from the first- year class Peder Arneson, Tobiah Bingham and Nic Reichenbach. Sophomores Chris Coffey, Robert Hillard, Mark Sullivan and Joel Tortomasi. Juniors Jeff Boerner, Andrew Cole, Ryan Johnson, Josh Steffen and senior Chris Grorud.

Outdoor Track & Field in the MIAC appears to be a duplicate copy of recent years with St. Thomas, Saint John?s and Concordia all poised to field very strong teams. The Oles hope to cut into that field and continue to improve.

Contact Pat Buresh at 507-786-3315 or buresh@stolaf.edu.