April 6, 2004

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Senior Caesare Stimson (Chisago Lakes, Minn.) used wins in the high jump (5-4 1/2) and the 200-meter dash (26.92 s) to post a first-place finish in the St. John’s Multi, her first heptathlon of the 2004 season. With 16 athletes competing, she did not finish below seventh place in any of the seven events. Stimson, holder of Bemidji State’s heptathlon record (4,533) finished with 4,371 total points.

“This is just a tune-up for Caesare, getting ready for the conference multis,” head coach Craig Hougen said. “She looks like she’s on pace to do a little better than last year, and if so, she’s going to be pretty tough to beat.”

Freshmen Nicole Friend (International Falls, Minn.) and Shelby McCrady (Montgomery, Minn.) finished in eighth and 10th place, respectively. Both women turned in their best performance in the 800-meter run, in which McCrady won the event (2:25.97) and Friend finished in third place (2:27.59).

In the decathlon, freshman Michael Hougen (Bemidji, Minn.) was the runner-up in the 1500-meter run (4:52.78) and 100-meter dash (11.92 s), eventually placing sixth overall with 5,035 points. Junior Ben Mettling (Pine City, Minn.), whose 4,524 total points earned him a 10th place finish, was also the runner-up in two events. He placed second in the shot put (35-10 1/2) and discus (115-4).

Hougen feels that both the men and the women will continue improving in the multi events, and will have five or six athletes capable of scoring points at the multi championships in Aberdeen, S.D. on April 25 and 26. “This weekend was a fantastic learning experience for the freshmen,” he said. “The snow and crud on our field hasn’t allowed us to practice the javelin, and we should be able to start that soon.”

The track and field squads will travel to Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday to compete in the Jim Duncan Invite.