Sophomore Michaela Hesse and junior Rachelle LeBlanc both captured individual titles at the 17th annual Lee Krough Invitational on Saturday in St. Peter, Minn., and were among seven Bulldogs who posted top 5 finishes in their respective events.

Hesse took top honors in the high jump with a leap of 5'-03.00" while LeBlanc went 10'-10.25" in the pole vault to outdo eight other competitors. Sophomore Elizabeth Brunner had a busy -- and successful -- afternoon as she placed second in both the long jump (17'-08.75') and triple jump (37'-09.50") and third in the javelin throw (111'-03"). In addition, junior Amber Seidenkranz came in second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:47.91) while freshman Melissa Drenckhahn (4:59.26), sophomore Allie Stalboerger (25.16 in the 200-meter dash) and senior Natalie Stauber (2:18.29 in the 800-meter run) all turned in fourth-place finishes.

In addition, a quartet of Bulldogs --  senior Breanna Colbenson, juniors Emi Trost and Erica Kesseh and sophomore Danielle Kohlwey -- ventured to California where they competed in the 59th annual Mt. Sac Relays at El Camino College in Torrance and/or the Bryan Clay Invitational, which was hosted by Azusa Pacific University. On Thursday at the Bryan Clay event, Colbenson broke the program's 3,000-meter steeplechase record, finishing fourth overall (the top three placers were all from the NCAA Division I ranks) in a time of 10:10.69 -- the second fastest clocking by an NCAA II runner this spring.  That shaved nearly five seconds off the previous team mark of 10:15.40, which Colbenson set earlier this month at the Hamline University Invitational. Trost, meanwhile, ran a 4:13.51 mile on Friday to take fourth in the Invitational Elite Division race at the Mt. Sac Relays and, like Colbenson, did so in record-breaking fashion. That  bettered school record of 4:21.09, which Trost also turned in at the Hamline University Invitational two weeks ago, and is the second fastest mark in the nation at the moment.  Kohlwey  and Kesseh placed 17th (14.18) and 54th (15.32), respectively, in the 100-meter hurdles at the Bryan Clay Invitational while Kesseh also took part in the 100-meter dash (60th in 12.52) at that same meet.

On Saturday, three more UMD records fell by the wayside at the Beach Invitational in Long Beach, Calif., with Kohlwey and Trost doing the damage. Kohlwey finished 25th overall and first among non-NCAA I and unattached runners in the 200-meter dash with a school-record effort (automatic time) of 24.53 and was 12th in the 100-meter hurdles with a school-record 13.63 clocking (eclipsing her program-best 13.78 mark which she established last spring at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships). UMD Athletic Hall of Famer Julie Hay's 200-meter dash record of 24.4 was done using manual time. Trost  turned in the second-fastest time in the nation this season -- 2:05.82 -- in the 800-meter run which made her the school record holder (All-American Liz Palkie owned the old standard of 2:08.02 from the 2009 NCAA II Outdoor Track and Field Championships.)
 
Next up for the Bulldogs is Concordia University-St. Paul's Holst Invitational next Saturday (April 22).

2017 Beach Invitational Results
2017 Lee Krough Results
2017 Mt. Sac Relays Results
2017 Bryan Clay Invitational Results