In the nerve-wracking world of track and field, a split second or a quarter of an inch can separate the champions from the chumps. In Collegeville, Minn., last weekend, the Macalester men’s and women’s indoor track & field squads competed in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) championships and walked away successful enough to keep them excited for the spring outdoor season.

The women’s team finished in ninth place, up a spot from last year’s championships, and came within two points of catching rival Hamline for eighth place. The men’s side improved a spot too, also finishing ninth and only three points out of seventh place.

The blond beauties, Bo Rydze ’05 and Koby Hagen ’06, led the way for Macalester’s men’s and women’s teams, each running extremely well in distance events. Rydze earned All-MIAC honors by taking third place in the 3000m with a gutsy performance in an eventful race in which the leaders started slow, he took the lead and a top runner lost a shoe. Rydze added a strong outing in the 1500m with a solid sixth place showing, achieving a personal record of 4:04.73.

On the women’s side, Hagen came through with two strong All-MIAC showings. On Friday, she placed third in the 1500m, only a few seconds behind the leader and a shot at Nationals. The next day in the 1000m, Hagen finished second by clocking in at 3:01.36, roughly 1.5 seconds behind the same Tommie who won the 1500m. Two other distance runners put points on the board for the women as Anna Gordon ’06 and Alli Woerpel ’07 each got seventh in the 3000m and 1000m, respectively.

Colleen Schramm ’07 also had a big day for the Scots. Schramm secured a fourth place finish in the 55m hurdles, an All-MIAC third place finish in the triple jump and anchored the third place 200 x 4 relay. It was the last showing for Schramm that was most rewarding. “Everyone was really aggressive and I think that we took most of the other teams in our heat by surprise. We even surprised ourselves by breaking a school record,” Schramm said.

To finish out the scoring for the Macalester women, Christa von Behren ’07 came away with a point from an eighth place finish in the pole vault and Susan Brown ’07 beat out teammate Schramm for a second place finish in the triple jump, earning her All-MIAC honors as well.

Back on the men’s side it was the jump and relay participants that especially shone. Mikhail Higgins ’04, who placed sixth in the 400m, also anchored both the 400 x 2 and 400 x 4, which placed fifth and fourth. Higgins’ relay-mates also showed their abilities elsewhere. Alex Wise ’07 came in seventh in the pole vault to tack on two more points for the Scots. Brendan Viele ’05 placed fourth in the long jump with a finish of 20-11. Not far behind was teammate Tim Burns ’06 in sixth, who hit 20-7. The distance medley relay finished off the scoring for the Scotsmen with a seventh place finish and a fifth place outing by Ssebbaale Sseremba ’05 in the triple jump.

Overall, the athletes seemed pleased with the performances and are excited for the outdoor season to begin.

“I was overly pleased with how we did. We surpassed last year’s point total on the first night of competition,” co-captain Rydze said. “I think I would attribute the new level of competitiveness to an enhanced feeling of team unity that was certainly lacking my first two years here. I believe this unity has stemmed from the fact that not only have we set our own event goals higher but we have shared them among members of every event. When you know what someone else is hoping to accomplish it's far easier to motivate yourself to cheer for that person and care about how they end up finishing. This has manifested itself in a greatly enhanced supportive environment surrounding the team at competitions.”