Dillon Hogan/Winonan

With another week of competition behind them, the Winona State University track and field team is operating on all cylinders as the season winds down and championships are coming up.

On Saturday Feb. 2, in a tremendous showing in Stevens Point, Wis., the Warriors brought home five victories.

To go with their five victories, four of the Warriors’ team members posted provisional qualifying marks sufficient enough for the NCAA.

In what turned out to be another dominating performance, sophomore Kelsey Bethke took home a victory in the 400-meter dash and ran to a runner up spot in the 200-meter dash. Both of Bethke’s times were sufficient enough to qualify for the NCAA provisional marks.

Not only did Bethke claim the win in the 400, but the Warriors had the top three placers in the race with sophomore Catherine Whitcomb and senior Brittney Rynda finishing right behind with a close second and third place respectively.

Like the 400, the Warriors grabbed the top three spots in the 200-meter dash as well. The victor in the 200-meter dash was senior Sarah Finley who sprinted to the win with a time of 25.3.

Finley’s race and subsequent time in the 200 helped earn her a provisional mark in the NCAA as well as the victory in the race. Finley also placed second overall in the 60-meter dash losing by a mere 4/100 of a second.

For the long distance portion of the meet, the Warriors came away with a victory as well. In the 800-meter race, senior Ashton Lamp earned a first place triumph with a finishing time of 2:22.59 to give the Warriors their third victory of the day and their only win in the long distance category.

Along with the victorious Winona State runners, the event participants also had some success. Giving the team their fourth victory, Brittney Rynda secured the win in the triple jump event with a final combined score of 10.93 meters.

Senior Anna Blaske provided the last victory for the Warriors. In the 60-meter hurdles, Blaske won with a time of 9.05 seconds.

Just as impressive was Blaske’s turn in the events—specifically the long jump. Blaske recorded a jump of 5.51 meters, which was far enough to meet NCAA provisional qualification standards and to give Blaske a runner up finish in the long jump event.

The coming weekend will be a big one for the Warriors. The team is separating to compete in four different individual meets in four different cities.

The Warriors will be sending runners to Ames for the three-day Iowa State Classic beginning on Thursday, Feb. 7, ending Saturday, Feb. 9. Winona State will also be sending runners up to St. Paul for the St. Thomas Open, and runners will stay in Winona for the Cardinal Indoor Open.

On Sunday, Feb. 10, the Warriors will be heading to Mankato for the NSIC Multi-Event Events indoor championships.

Contact Dillon at [email protected]