The men's track and field team turned in a strong performance in the four-team St. Olaf Invite.
River Falls, St. Olaf, Gustavus, and Carleton all competed, but no team scores were kept.

Mike Sandle broke the triple jump school record with a leap of 48-4 1/2 to lead the Falcons. That effort broke Bruce Beckel's mark of 47-feet that has stood since 1980. Sandle also finished fourth in the 200 with a time of 23.32 and second in the 60 with a time of 7.15.

UWRF dominated the high jump, sweeping the top three slots.  Clai Catto (Menomonie, WI, Menomonie) took home first with a score of 6-9. Max Anderson (Spooner, WI, Spooner) and Zach Good (Stacey, MN, North Branch) each had identical scores in the prelims and finals of 6-0 ¾ and 5-10 ¾.  However, Anderson edged Good for second.

The Falcons also unloaded in the 400-meter dash.  Mason Albright (Andover, MN, Andover) finished first with a time of 51.86, and Anthony Sumnicht (Bonduel, WI, Bonduel) finished not far behind, taking second with a time of 52.37.

James Butler (Oakdale, MN, Tartan) had stellar events in both the 60-meter hurdles and the 200-meter dash.  Butler took home the gold in the hurdles by besting his prelim time of 8.62 with an 8.51 time in the finals.  Butler also placed second in the 200 in an exciting race by where he edged a Gustavus runner by .006 seconds.  Butler had a time of 23.262, whereas the Gustavus runner crossed the line at 2.268.

In the 1000-meter race, Scott Jensen (New Prague, MN, New Prague) was the event winner with a time of 2:35.90. 

Also leading the competition was Jake Weber (Lakeville, MN, Lakeville), who competed in the shot put.  His throw of 46-6 ¼ was a much improved performance from his preliminary score of 43-11 ¼, but good enough for first place nonetheless.

Scott Bowman (Stoughton, WI, McFarland) garnered second place in the 3000 by shaving nearly five seconds from his prelim time to the finals.  In the prelims, he crossed the line in exactly 9:00.  In the finals, he took home gold with a time of 8:55.25.  Teammate Charles Collins (St. Paul, MN, St. Paul Academy) took third in the 3000 by also shaving off time.  His prelim time was 9:20, whereas his final time was 9:19.08.

Up next for the Falcons is the Pointer Invitational.  The meet begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Stevens Point.

Results