Buses rolled away from the Fieldhouse in the early hours of the morning Saturday, Feb. 7 as the Macalester men’s and women’s indoor track teams traveled to Decorah, Iowa to compete in the Luther College Alumni Meet. Featuring a larger number of participants than past years, the Scots made the three-hour trip to stretch their legs against a solid Luther team and some top Luther alumni. The trip proved to be an excellent early season measuring stick as Macalester athletes put in strong performances for both the men’s and women’s teams in what was their second meet of the indoor season. Participants improved their marks in almost all events over those from the meet at Gustavus Jan. 29. Macalester athletes combined for four first-place finishes (two for the men and two for the women) and 13 second-place finishes (five for the men and eight for the women).

Scots Head Track Coach Martin Peper was pleased with the development of both track teams during the early stages of the indoor season. “Overall, I would rate this a very good meet for both teams,” he said. “We were able to improve our times from last week and so things are progressing well.”

Despite last Saturday’s improvements, Peper was quick to add that the ultimate goal for the team is improved future performance. “We like to look at these early indoor meets as more developmental for our athletes,” he said. “This is only the first or second meet for them and the real goal is doing well in May during the outdoor season.”

The meet was highlighted by several strong individual performances, including one meet record and two Macalester school records. Kobe Hagen ’06 achieved a new meet record in the 1,000-meter run with a time of 3:05.87. In addition, two first-year pole-vaulters set school records in their first actual competition of the season. Christa von Behren set the record with a mark of 8’6” and Alex Wise won the men’s pole vault with a record mark of 14’1”.

The Macalester men’s and women’s indoor track teams will have another opportunity to test themselves against top level competition this coming Saturday, Feb. 14 at the Eastbay Invitational in Stevens Point, Wis. The Scots will compete against top teams like University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point who figure to be contenders for a spot at nationals later this year.