The St. Olaf men’s track and field team competed at the St. Mary’s Open on April 25. Alex Phearman ’15 and Kevin Skrip ’16 led the Oles by winning two individual titles.
Phearman won the steeplechase in a tightly-packed race with a time of 10:04.23, with Paul Timm ’18 coming in third place with a time of 10:10.29. Skrip was the champion of the 400-meter event with a time of 50.29, once again showing his consistency in the event and proving to be one of the top sprinters for the Oles.
Sean Bjork ’17 and Jacob Eggers ’17 led the Oles in the 800-meter race, finishing in fourth and fifth positions respectively. Bjork and Eggers both ran season bests, with Bjork finishing with a time of 1:54.73 and Eggers with 1:55.04. These performances in the 400m and 800m are a good sign that the team’s middle distance runners are coming around at a time in the season when consistent and strong times are going to be necessary to win meets.
The Oles have consistently had impressive meets, and both distance runners and sprinters appear to be capable of topping the best that the MIAC has to offer. With the MIAC Outdoor Championships slowly approaching, it is important for the Oles to maintain the momentum they have used throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Considering the success that many individual runners have had earlier in the outdoor track season – as well as during the indoor track and cross country seasons, it is very likely that head coach Phil Lundin and his team can come away with a MIAC team championship title, and also find success later on at Nationals.
