NORTHFIELD, Minn. - The Bethany track & field team enjoyed its Valentine's Day this year at the Carleton Meet of the Hearts. This annual tradition is one of the most exciting and entertaining meets of the year. While the Vikings had plenty of fun, they put together some great results as well.

The first personal best of the meet belonged to James Young, whose time of 4:48.47 was good enough to set a new personal record. Soon after, a pair of Vikings followed with two more personal bests in the 400-meter dash. Taryn Zellmann set a new record of 1:04.86, placing fifth. Also, Riley Ping set a new season best in the event with a time of 1:08.10. Next, Matthew Koosman followed suit with a new PR time of 52.72, which placed him second in the event.

The next personal records on the track came in droves in the 200-meter dash. Samantha Kedsch, Taryn Zellmann, and Avery Hopp all set new marks in the event. The trio finished with times of 29.29, 28.06, and 28.82, respectively. Immediately after, a pair of Viking men ran new PRs, as Koosman's time of 23.94 and Bolanos Talbot's time of 24.80 were able to set new records for the pair.

The last new personal best on the track came in the last track event the Vikings competed in, as Tanner Rosenthal set a new 3000-meter record with a time of 10:23.32.
           
White the Vikings exceeded on the track, they also saw great results in the field. Kedsch placed first in women's long jump to start the meet with a jump of 5.17 meters. Soon after, Sarah Smith placed third in high jump with a height of 1.48 meters. Meanwhile, in the shot put, Nika Pittenger set a new personal best distance with a throw of 9.52 meters. Moving back to the horizontal jumps, Austin Skaden and Will Kaesermann both set PRs in the long jump, as Skaden jumped 5.61 meters while Kaesermann jumped a distance of 5.87 meters. With the last jumping event of the day, Skaden set a second personal best on the day with a triple jump of 11.65 meters.

One of the highlights of the day came once again in the pole vault. Freshman Brandon Kellett continued to set school record after school record in the event, as his vault of 4.00 meters extended his lead above the rest of Vikings history, while being good enough to place him fifth in the event.

The Vikings are now on the home stretch of the indoor season, as they set their eyes on the UMAC Indoor Championships in two weeks. The Vikings will compete in Superior, Wis. in a bid for the indoor conference championship Feb. 27–28.