| Results | MIAC Recap | Championships Site | 

Heading into the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Championships, the St. Catheirne University track and field team knew sprinters Brittany Moore (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul) and Shakeela Wells-Johnson (St. Paul, Minn./Harding) had the potential to finish near the top in multiple events. And sure enough, both earned all-conference honors for their finishes to lead the Wildcats on the opening day of competition Friday at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. 
 

Moore and Wells-Johnson kicked off the meet in thrilling fashion for the Wildcats going head-to-head in the 60-meter hurdles to create drama heading into the finals. In the prelims, Wells-Johnson tied Moore's school record from a week ago with the fastest prelim time of 9.19, while Moore ran the fourth-fastest time in prelims clocking in at 9.31 with both runners winning their heats to earn spots in the finals.

Not to be out-done again, Moore set the St. Kate's record for the hurdles again when she ran the second-fastest time of the day at 9.16. Not only did the junior set a new school record in the event for the second week in a row, but her second-place finish in the finals helped her earn her first collegiate All-MIAC honors of her career. Wells-Johnson finished ninth in the finals with a time of 9.53.

Though her hurdle finish came up short of all-conference honors, Wells-Johnson earned All-MIAC honors in the 60-meter dash for the second year in a row with a time of 7.88 that was good enough for third place. In the prelims, Wells-Johnson tied for the second-fastest time clocking in at 8.02 to qualify for the finals. 

Day one of the meet ended in exciting fashion for the Wildcats as the Distance Medley Relay squad finished with an impressive All-MIAC Honorable Mention sixth-place finish. The Wildcats' clocked in at 13:05.09 which now ranks No. 4 all-time at St. Kate's. Courtney Kirkeide (Greenbush, Minn./Greenbush-Middle River) led off the race running the 1,200-meter portion, before handing off to first-year Megan Thoemke (White Bear Lake, Minn./Mahtomedi) for the 400-meter section. Then, Shannon Strickland (Rochester, Minn./Lourdes) followed with a solid run in the 800-meter slot to put the Wildcats in eighth. Finally, on final mile section, senior Jenna McElroy (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) anchored the Wildcats passing two other runners to move the Wildcats to sixth. 

Other notable performances for the Wildcats came in the field events. Megan Pohlmann (Grey Eagle, Minn./Long Prairie-Grey Eagle) was the last individual to qualify for the weight throw earlier this week, but she saved her best throw of the season to show up strong at the MIAC meet with a new PR of 12.52 meters (41-1). Her mark just missed cracking the St. Kate's top 10 list and was good enough for 14th.  

In the Wildcats' other field event, Moore narrowly missed qualifying for the finals in the long jump with a mark of 4.86 meters (15-11.5) which was just off her PR in the event. Her mark was good enough for 11th overall. 

On the track, Thoemke recorded a new PR in her collegiate debut at the conference meet in the 400-meter dash. Her clocking of 62.55 was good enough for 14th in the event. 

Ashleigh Ackley (Gilby, N.D./Grand Forks Central) made her indoor collegiate debut in the 60-meter hurdles and finished with a time of 10.68. Johannah Wyrick (Gilbert, Minn./Eveleth-Gilbert) also made her collegiate debut at the MIAC Championships in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:32.52.

The Wildcats will complete competition at the MIAC Championships Saturday with field events slated for 10:15 a.m. and track events beginning at 12:30 p.m. Additional meet information can be found on the championships site. 

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