BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - Another busy weekend awaits Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) track & field teams ahead of the 2025 MIAC Indoor Track & Field Championships in Collegeville at the end of the month.
STAT PACK
The top times and distances from around the MIAC as of Thursday, February 6 can be found here.
IN THE POLLS
Bethel ranks No. 20 in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Top 25 Poll, released on Tuesday, February 4.
St. Olaf leads ten MIAC teams ranked among the top 25 in the North Region in the USTFCCCA's most recent regional rankings, released on Tuesday, February 4. St. Olaf (No. 5) and Bethel (No. 6) earned spots in the top ten.
NATIONAL NOTABLES
Augsburg junior Mohammed Bati (Dodola, Ethiopia | GAP School) ranks third in NCAA Division III with a 5,000-meter time of 14:15.33 (1/24).
Bethel junior Landen Liu (Blaine, Minn. | Centennial) leads the nation with a 60-meter dash time of 6.67 (1/24).
Bethel junior Grant Nelson (Minneapolis, Minn. | Providence Academy) has the eighth-fastest 200-meter time in D-III this season at 21.92 (1/31).
Saint John's senior Jackson McDowell (Centennial, Colo. | Arapahoe) ranks eighth in Division III for the high jump with a leap of 2.06 meters (6' 9") (1/31).
St. Olaf junior Kevin Turlington (Rochester, Minn. | Lourdes) ran the eighth-fastest 5K time in D-III this season, clocking in at 14:23.16 (1/24).
St. Scholastica senior Trent Beseth (Stanchfield, Minn. | Cambridge-Isanti) is tied for the third-best shot put distance in Division III this season at 17.15 meters (56' 3.25") (1/18).
St. Scholastica senior Lars Dewall (Stillwater, Minn.) is tied for the eighth-fastest 3K time in Division III at 8:15.68 (1/31).
AROUND THE MIAC
Augsburg junior Mohammed Bati (Dodola, Ethiopia | GAP School) broke program records on back-to-back days at the St. Olaf College Invitational and Jack Johnson Classic in January. Bati competed in the 5,000-meter run at the St. Olaf meet on 1/23, winning the 37-runner event with a 14:15.33 time, breaking his previous record of 14:37.67, set in 2024. The time also set a new St. Olaf facility record and represented a new MIAC all-time indoor record, breaking the previous mark of 14:20.51, set by St. Olaf's Will Kelly in 2024. Bati then set a new school record with an 8:18.21 time in the 3,000-meter run on 1/24. Bati broke his previous program mark of 8:24.31, set in 2024.
Bethel junior Landen Liu (Blaine, Minn. | Centennial) won the 60-meter dash at the University of Minnesota's Jack Johnson Classic on 1/24, crossing the finish line in a time of 6.67. That time is the second-fastest in NCAA Division III history. His victory came against a field that included world champion and Olympian Brandon Carnes and Division I All-American Charles Godfred. Liu is the fifth D-III runner to break the 6.70 barrier and now sits .03 seconds shy of the all-time record.
Carleton junior Gabe Nichols (Grove City, Penn.) finished second out of 20 racers in the 1,000-meter run at the Mark Schuck Open on 1/31. He crossed the line at 2:28.91 in a field included seven Division I runners and eight from Division II. Nichols’ time is tops in the MIAC this season and the fastest in the conference since the 2022 MIAC Indoor Championships.
Concordia sophomore Tyler Goss (Devils Lake, N.D.) ran the 5K in 15:46 at the UND Open and Multi on 1/31. His time made him the 21st athlete in Cobber history to run the indoor 5K in less than 16 minutes.
Gustavus senior Tyler Smith (Liberty, Mo. | Central) set a program record in the 3,000-meter run at the season-opening Chuck Petersen Open on 12/7 with a time of 8:35.96. The previous record of 8:37.41 had stood since 2008.
Hamline first-year Ricky Kwabena Yawson (Rosemount, Minn.) broke the Pipers' 60-meter record in his very first collegiate race at the UST Invitational on 1/17 with a time of 6.95 in prelims. He matched that time on 1/22 in the finals of the event at the Vanessa Seljeskog Classic.
Macalester junior Austin Mills (Eugene, Ore. | Winston Churchill) won the weight throw at the Vanessa Seljeskog Classic on 1/25 with a toss of 15.33 (50' 3.5"), which ranks second all-time in program history.
Saint John's senior Jackson McDowell (Centennial, Colo. | Arapahoe) won the high jump with a mark of 2.06 meters (6' 9") at the Mark Schuck Open & Multi on 2/1. McDowell's leap is tops in the MIAC and ranks eighth in NCAA Division III this season.
Saint Mary's senior Chris Bulwa (Glenview, Ill. | New Trier) finished behind only the reigning national champion in the 60-meter dash at the Pat Healy Classic on 1/25. Bulwa crossed the finish line in 22.09, good for the 17th-fastest time in NCAA Division III this season.
St. Olaf junior Kevin Turlington (Rochester, Minn. | Lourdes) posted NCAA Division III's seventh-fastest time in the 5,000-meter run this season (14:23.16) at the St. Olaf Invitational & Multi on 1/24. The junior's time also moved him up to second in the event on St. Olaf's all-time list, just 2.5 seconds shy of the record.
St. Scholastica senior Trent Beseth (Stanchfield, Minn. | Cambridge-Isanti) won both the shot put and weight throw at the CSB/SJU Alumni Meet on 1/25. Beseth’s shot put distance of 16.83 meters (55’ 2.75") is his second-best heave of the season and would rank sixth in NCAA Division III. Beseth’s weight throw of 16.62 meters (64’ 6.5") traveled a meter farther than the next-closest competitor.
UP NEXT
Friday, February 7
12:00 PM | Bison Indoor Open (Fargo, ND)
Saturday, February 9
10:30 AM | Meet of the Hearts (Northfield, MN)
11:00 AM | Gopher Classic (Minneapolis, MN)
11:30 AM | Luther Invitational (Decorah, IA)
11:30 AM | UWRF Winter Classic (River Falls, WI)
12:00 PM | Bison Indoor Open (Fargo, ND)
2:00 PM | Mark Guthrie Legacy Invitational (La Crosse, WI)
Friday, February 14
Maverick Premier #1 (Mankato, MN)
UW-Stout Quad (Menomonie, WI)
Saturday, February 15
UW-Platteville Invitational (Platteville, WI)
Maverick Premier #1 (Mankato, MN)
Saint John's Invitational (Collegeville, MN)
Maday Classic (Superior, WI)
Friday, February 21
UND Tune-Up (Grand Forks, ND)
Tostrud Classic (Northfield, MN)
Snowshoe Open (Minneapolis, MN)
Maverick Invitational (Mankato, MN)
Saturday, February 22
Gene Glader Classic (Arden Hills, MN)