Huskies open 2021 with team win at Craig Hougen Tri

Saturday, January 23

Bemidji, MN

St. Cloud State

Craig Hougen Triangular

Photo by: SPX Photography

1/23/2021 11:13:00 PM | Women's Track & Field

| Results |

BEMIDJI, MINN. - In terms of starts to the season, the St. Cloud State University women's track and field team could not have asked for a better one. The Huskies earned a huge victory at the Craig Hougen Triangular, winning the meet with 102 total team points.

St. Cloud State just edged out Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) foes Winona State and Bemidji State thanks to some outstanding individual performances on the track and in field events. In the 60m dash, senior Emelia Burris (Fenton, Ill. / Woodale) ran the fastest time of the day, qualifying for finals with an impressive time of 7.78. The time itself is .02 seconds faster than last year's time of 7.80 and puts her in prime position to qualify for the NSIC Indoor Track and Field Championships for the fourth consecutive season. Burris additionally excelled in long jump, as she won the event thanks to a season best jump of 5.59 meters.

The Huskies also saw strong performances in the 60m hurdles, as Faith Lubner (Reedsville, Wis. / Reedsville) and Gracie Elsenpeter (Maple Lake, Minn. / Maple Lake) both finished in the top-3 in the race. Lubner finished first, clocking a time of 9.07 in prelims before running a 9.03 in finals to earn seven points for St. Cloud State. Elsenpeter was right on her heels, finishing third with a time of 9.38 in finals.

The Huskies saw several individuals record personal records (PR) in field events. Annie Falardeau (Grand Rapids, Minn. / Grand Rapids) recorded PRs in both weight throw and shot put and additionally finished top-5 in both events. In weight throw, Falardeau's PR throw of 15.30 meters helped her finish in third place, while her 13.40 meter throw in shot put was good enough for second place in shot put.

Dacoda Zimmerman (Racine, Wis. / Horlick) and Emma Gauert (New Ulm, Minn. / New Ulm) additionally earned PRs in their respective events. Zimmerman finished sixth in shot put thanks to her PR throw of 12.95 meters, and Gauert won pole vault thanks to her jump of 3.24 meters. Elsenpeter tied Gauert, also finishing first with an identical mark of 3.24 meters.

St. Cloud State additionally won points in high jump, as Claire Shae (Excelsior, Minn. / Chanhassen) and Julia Rowles (Plymouth, Minn. / Robbinsdale-Armstrong) finished second and third in the competition with marks of 1.63 and 1.58 meters respectively.

Thanks to these and several other strong performances, the Huskies won the meet with a team score of 102 points. St. Cloud State will return to action on Friday, February 5 when it competes at the Ted Nelson Classic in Mankato, Minnesota.