ST. PETER, Minn. – Bethany track & field returned to Gustavus Adolphus College for the second time this year for the Gustavus Drake Alternative on Saturday. The occasional showers couldn't stop the Vikings from having another successful meet in their last competition before the UMAC Championships next weekend.

In the field, a pair of Vikings participated in events for the first time in their careers. James Younge did so in the javelin, where he threw a distance of 19.84 meters. Avery Hopp's debut came in the triple jump, where she jumped 9.35 meters. Nika Pittenger also managed to have a great day in the field, in a day that included a first place finish in javelin with a distance of 34.07 meters.

With the relatively light day in the field for the Vikings, much of their success came on the track. The first events of the day with Vikings in it were the 4x100-meter relays. The women's team of Ping, Hopp, Kedsch, and Zellmann placed in sixth with a time of 52.25 seconds, and the men's team of Halvorson, Kaesermann, Koosman, and Bolanos Talbot set a new season best time of 44.82 seconds in their third place finish.

Sarah Smith produced a personal best in the 100-meter hurdles soon after the relays, with a new best time of 18.77 seconds. Soon after, Taryn Zellmann set a new season best time in the 100-meter dash with her eighth place finishing time of 13.28 seconds. The next event on the track saw another Viking set a personal record, with Ben Matzke inching ever closer to a sub-two-minute 800-meter time, as he improved his personal record to 2:00.71. Viking alum Naomi Anderson also participated in the 800-meter run for the women, where she finished with a time of 2:51.63.

Next, Matthew Koosman set a season best in the 400-meter hurdles as he placed in fourth with a sub-one-minute time of 59.80 seconds. In the 200-meter dash, several Vikings saw improvements on their times, as Taryn Zellmann and Riley Ping both set new season best times of 27.68 seconds and 28.92 seconds, respectively. For the men, Jose Bolanos Talbot and Will Kaesermann set new personal records. Bolanos Talbot did so with a time of 23.98 seconds, while Kaesermann did so with a time of 24.26 seconds.

In the last running event by a Viking athlete of the day, August Weinstein lowered his personal best time in the 5000-meter run by 18 seconds as he finished with a time of 17:18.73. To close out the day, Vikings' coach Jakin Anderson also participated in the alumni mile, finishing to the cheers of the onlooking athletes.

Coach Dom Santina had this to say about the meet, "Glad to see some improvement and continuing to get solid marks as we get ready for the championships next week."

With the completion of this meet, the Vikings' eyes move on to the UMAC Championships next weekend, on Friday, May 1, and Saturday, May 2 at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.