The Mac Weekly

Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Matt Haugen New frontier in speed . The men's Distance Medley Relay team finished with a time of 10:20.94, obliterating the school's previous record in the event. The DMR racers were, pictured from left to right, Wade Ekstrom '10, Andrew Yokom '09, Josh Springer '08 and Tyson Morgan '09.

The men's and women's track and field teams held nothing back at the MIAC Indoor Conference Championships this past week, breaking four school records and recording multiple personal best performances over the competition. Having such strong results this early is encouraging since both teams are only now starting the transition to outdoor competition, the main focus of the season.

"This was midterms, and we passed the midterms with flying colors with where our training is at," Head Coach Martin Peper said. "People stepped up and reached a higher level. If you look at what the relay teams did and take the individual splits, many of them would have placed in individual events."

Two of the school records were set in each of the men's and women's Distance Medley Relay (DMR) events.

Tyson Morgan '09, Andrew Yokom '09, Josh Springer '08 and Wade Ekstrom '10 recorded a time of 10:20.94 in the men's DMR, narrowly finishing second to St. Olaf, but shattering the old school record and also beating the previous best meet record.

"Coach Matt [Haugen] was talking about a possible school record before the meet," Yokom said, adding that after the meet "Coach Matt was really excited. He was up until like two a.m. that morning."

Ekstrom ran the last section of the relay, the mile run, in just under 4:20, a time that would have placed him third in the individual event.

"My season wasn't going so well and I wasn't where I wanted to be," Ekstrom said. "To have my best race ever was great; it was a great confidence booster."

In the women's DMR, Anna Hankins '10, Emily Matthews '10, Robin Major '11 and Emilie Schur '10 recorded a time of 12:5.70, finishing fourth in the event.

"I don't think any of us expected to do as well as we did," Schur said. "Emily [Matthews] had just finished running a race, Robin was our alternate and just found out she was running on Friday morning and we had all just finished a challenging week of school so it was a surprise how well we all came together."

Continued...

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