MANKATO, Minn. - Bethany track & field returned to the campus of Minnesota State University, Mankato on Friday and Saturday for the Mark Schuck Open. The two-day meet brought with it several personal records across various events for the Vikings, as well as a school record falling once again.

Friday brought with it some more excitement for the year in the pole vault. Freshman Brandon Kellett continued his record-breaking season by breaking his own record in the event. With a height of 3.89 meters, he vaulted himself further ahead in Vikings track and field history.

Next, four Vikings competed in the 300 meter dash, with a pair of sophomores, Taryn Zellmann and Matthew Koosman, nearly breaking school records. Zellmann's time of 45.25 was only 0.02 seconds behind the all-time leading time, while Koosman's 37.63 was 0.07 seconds behind the school record.

In the final running event of the night, the men's distance medley relay team of Tanner Rosenthal, Ben Matzke, James Younge, and August Weinstein ran a time of 12:10.98. Even with all of the track events done, the field still had two more Vikings left to compete. First, Benjamin Halvorson set a new personal record in the long jump with a distance of 6.28 meters. Afterwards, Avery Hopp increased the streak of Vikings personal records to two with her jump of 4.83 meters.

After the events on Friday, the Vikings kept their strong performances rolling into Saturday. Freshman Sarah Smith set a new personal record in the high jump early in the day with a height of 1.52 meters. Three Vikings all set personal records in the 60-meter dash soon after as Austin Skaden, Carlos De La Vega, and Skye Weyiouanna ran times of 7.75, 7.83, and 8.22, respectively.

Next, some more near history in the field as Samantha Kedsch neared her own school record distance in the long jump, as her mark of 5.27 meters was just two centimeters away from tying the record. Once again, the attention turned back to the track as three Vikings set PRs in the 800-meter. First, freshmen Campbell Amundson and Gracelyn Malecek set new personal records in the women's 800-meter. Amundson did so with a time of 2:24.43, while Malecek came in with a time of 3:23.50.

On the men's side, Ben Matzke ran a time of 2:06.24 to set a new personal best. The next personal records for the Vikings came in the men's triple jump, as Will Kaesermann's jump of 12.16 meters broke his record from the previous meet. Meanwhile, teammate Austin Skaden set a new indoor personal best with a jump of 11.56 meters. The last personal record on the track came from Taryn Zellmann, who set a new indoor 200-meter PR with a time of 28.26.

Afterwards, freshman August Weinstein was the last runner of the night in the 5000-meter run. His time of 17:47.31 set a new mark for him as his first career indoor 5000 meter race. Two Vikings also participated in throwing events throughout the day, Katelynn Tortorella threw for a distance of 10.14 meters in weight throw and a distance of 10.04 meters in shot put. Nika Pittenger then threw a personal best shot put throw of 9.23 meters.

Coach Dominic Santina had this to say about the meet, "I am very happy to see the success at this point in the season. Our young team is gaining some confidence and starting to see improvements! Still got a couple weeks to continue to improve."

The Vikings will head on the road to River Falls, Wisconsin next weekend for their next meet, the UW-River Falls Winter Classic.