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Gunderson, Bergstrom boost tracksters
Both the men's and women's track teams started strong, but came up short on the final day. Strong performances by Eric Gunderson and Jed Bergstrom helped the Huskies finish third through the NCC Championships first day.
Gunderson finished second in the shot put with a mark of 16.15 meters but wasn't done there. He came back Saturday to finish first in the weight throw with a mark of 56 feet, 11 inches, just a foot off of his personal best.
Bergstrom nabbed a second place finish in the pole vault as he vaulted 4.80 meters, which got him provisionally qualified for nationals. Brothers Ryan and Jason Koch finished third and sixth respectively, in the pentathlon.
The women's team came out of the blocks well on Friday, too. In senior Crystal Pautzke's final meet as a Husky, she finished second with a height of 11 feet, four inches in the pole vault. Stacey Baumbach joined in Pautzke's success by getting a second place finish of her own in the high jump (1.65 meters).
Saturday featured a record-breaking performance by sophomore Justin Antus. Just a month after breaking the school record for the 600 meter run (1:22.12), Antus broke the school record in the 500 meter run with a time of 1:04.82, only .28 seconds faster than the old record. His recent mark in the record books gave him a fourth place finish overall. The winning time for the top five were all within .5 seconds of each other.
"I had a couple other chances at it, but this was a pretty big race and a pretty good race," Antus said. "I knew I had it in me, it was just a matter of time before I could bring it out. I wish I could have positioned myself better in the race that I could have had a chance to win it."
The 4 x 800 relay team and the 4 x 400 team each placed at the championship meet. The 4 x 800 team of Justin Antus, Nick Hirschg, Jamie Lippert and Jeremy Pekarek finished fifth, and the 4 x 400 team of Jeff Anderson, Josh Bitz, Nate Gilkerson and Jonny Olson received a fourth place finish.
"Overall the team did well," Gunderson said. "We were hoping to finish higher than fifth, but we were right in there. A few more places, we would've had third."
After starting in the sixth spot going into Saturday's final events, the women's team finished a disappointing ninth. Key injuries to Danielle Simons, Amy Harris and All-American Jodi Tarasewicz put the Huskies at a disadvantage right away.
Trying to carry the load for the women's team was Amy Dombrovski. Dombrovski placed fifth in the 500 meter run with a time of 1:19.04. Placing fourth in the 60 meter hurdles was junior Stacey Trushenski, but a malfunction with the time-keepers might have cost her a provisional spot on the national team. No times were recorded and as a result, a lot of people were upset.
"It was really disappointing, it was a big meet and stuff like this shouldn't happen," Trushenski said.
The 4 x 400 relay team, which has been improving all year, came away with a eighth-place finish. The relay team consisted of Crystal Pautzke, Dombrovski, Amy Uner and Trushenski.
"Our four by four team was absolutely awesome. Through the course of the season, we shaved like 16 seconds off our time," Trushenski said. "We came in last, but with injuries and everything, we only had nine women competing for us compared to other teams that have 40 to 50 women on their team."
The Husky track team's next scheduled meet is the Gustavus Invite at St. Peter, Minn., where they will start their outdoor season.
Kory Ellingson can be reached at: [email protected]
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