Team Outlook

The St. Thomas women’s track and field team has been a national force throughout the program's 29-year history.

In the last 21 seasons, St. Thomas teams have had 12 top-10 NCAA Division III team finishes. In that span Tommie tracksters have also won 15 individual national championships and nearly 100 All-America honors.

In 2005, the Tommies pulled off a rare sweep of the NCAA indoor and outdoor long jump title with different athletes. Kristal Grigsby won the indoor title, and teammate Andretta Colley took the outdoor championship. Brigid Power also was an NCAA runner-up in the outdoor 1,500, won an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and was a CoSIDA Academic All-American. Those athletes helped UST sweep the MIAC team titles and take fifth in both the NCAA indoor and outdoor championship meets.

Grigsby came back to win the 2006 outdoor long jump crown and finish as a three-time NCAA champ. Fellow senior Molly Bauman was both an All-American and Academic All-American in 2006.

Shara Guidry won the NCAA discus title in 2007 to cap a season in which Coach Joe Sweeney's teams swept the MIAC team titles in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. That was last achieved by a MIAC women's team in 1992, also by the Tommies.

The Tommies’ 1997 outdoor 4x100 relay team is the only one from any Minnesota college ever to win an NCAA relay championship. UST has had either a men's or women's relay team reach the NCAA finals 26 years in a row.

Sweeney was selected National Coach of the Year in 1995. In his 27-year tenure at St. Thomas, his teams have won 57 of the 75 possible MIAC team championships in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. His student-athletes have won 166 All-American honors, including 24 NCAA individual titles.

The Tommies have swept the conference indoor and outdoor track championships seven of the last eight seasons. They've also won 21 of the last 23 outdoor championships.

The Tommies have an eight-lane, all-weather outdoor track that was resurfaced in 2004, and they’ll again host several meets there. They also have an indoor track in Coughlan Field House. The Tommies travel south for an annual spring trip and regularly face the best teams in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Approximately 45 athletes are on the roster, with everyone eligible to compete in the majority of meets.