NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Bethany track & field finally kicked off its outdoor season on Saturday at the St. Olaf Manitou Classic. The Vikings braved the cold, rainy weather, and even overcame a lightning delay, and still managed to have a successful day both on the track and in the field.
 
The day started out with the throwing events, as Katelynn Tortorella set a new personal best in the shot put with a distance of 10.32 meters, which landed her in eighth place. At the same time, first year Jensen Gerdts took part in his first career meet, and set a new personal best in the discus with a distance of 19.34 meters. Nika Pittenger rounded out the throws with two new marks, as she threw a 34.38-meter discus throw, setting a new personal best, as well as winning the javelin with a distance of 35.75 meters.
 
Other notable performances in the field came across the board, including Samantha Kedsch placing second in long jump with a distance of 5.18 meters. In the men's long jump, three Vikings finished with Austin Skaden placing sixth with a jump of 5.69 meters, Will Kaesermann placing fifth with a jump of 5.74 meters, and Benjamin Halvorson jumping 6.24 meters to place second in the event. Sarah Smith then placed fourth in the high jump with a height of 1.47 meters. Meanwhile, Brandon Kellett placed sixth in the pole vault with a height of 4.00 meters.
 
On the track, the first personal bests came in the 100-meter dash. Jose Bolanos Talbot ran his first 100-meter of the season and placed in eighth with a time of 11.66 seconds. In the same heat, Kaesermann set a new personal best time of 12.03 seconds. In the next event, Ben Matzke gave rise to a thrilling finish in the 800-meter, catching an opponent at the line to place eighth with a time of 2:04.28. Next, August Weinstein broke the program record in the 3000-meter run with a time of 10:16.09, placing fifth in the event. Next on the track was the 200-meter dash, Kedsch, Halvorson, and Bolanos Talbot all set new personal records. Kedsch did so with a time of 28.78 seconds, while Halvorson placed in eighth in the men's 200-meter dash with his time of 23.63 seconds, and Bolanos Talbot set a new best time of 24.03 seconds.
 
The Vikings' next meet comes at the Gustavus Gustie Twilight meet on Wednesday, April 15 in St. Peter.