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Over the weekend, the Winona State University Women’s track and field team traveled to Ill. and landed in the windy city where they competed in the Lewis University Invitational hosted by the Flyers on Feb. 2.
Winona State had already competed in four meets to kick off their season. Previously, they competed at Mankato University where they placed seventh out of 16 teams. Their last meet was led by distance runners Kaylee Beyer, Lindsey Cunningham and Mckenna Taylor.
The Warriors arrived at the Dr. Conrad Worrill Track & Field Center where they would prepare to compete against several universities across the Midwest and California.
Friday’s meet was dominated by Winona State’s distance runners. Taking the lead in the unseeded one-mile race was second-year Madeline Palmer with a time of 5:24.57 followed by Taylor Renkes from Lewis University. First-year Warrior Hannah Miller also competed in the event and placed seventh with a time of 5:40.00.
Each individual event requires a lot of time spent training in preparation for meets, they each require unique focus and determination. Fifth-year Kaylee Beyer and fourth-year Lindsey Cunningham discussed their goals for the meet and the rest of the season that will hopefully be met as a result of their practice
“I just hope to grind out the mile and improve the time, that’s usually the goal,” Beyer said.
And that is exactly what she did, taking first place in the seeded one-mile race with a time of 4:43.24. Beyer’s set a new Warrior record for that event.
Third-year Hanna Reichenberger came in first for the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.92 in prelims and 8.78 in the final. Reichenberger didn’t stop there, she also came in first for the triple jump with a mark of 11.57m.
Competing in the 400-meter race was third-year Regan Feit. Feit came in second place with a time of 56.96 which awarded her the seventh fastest 400-meter time in Winona State history.
In the long jump, third-year Kaylee Olson placed fourth at 5.26 m. Second-year Mari Mohling competed in the high jump and came in fifth place with a score of 1.52 m.
Many acknowledgments have been made so far this season. Last week, Cunningham, a distance runner from Wisconsin Dells, was named the 2023 NCAA Division II Cross Country Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the U.S Track & Field and Cross-Country Association.
With several excellent performances from the Warriors in their first few meets, Winona State is sending a couple of competitors to Boston, MA for the Eagle Elite Invitational. Cunningham is among those competitors, and taking last week off to train, she is excited for the upcoming meet where she will be competing in the 5k, accompanied by Beyer who will be competing in the 3k.
“I’m really excited to go there and compete and see what we can do,” Cunningham said. “Everybody breaks records there” Beyer added.
Stay tuned to Winona State’s track and field team as they compete at Minnesota State University – Mankato and in Boston for the Eagle Elite Invitational on both Feb. 9 and Feb. 10.
