University of St. Thomas Athletics
Minnesota
Women's T&F eyes 2023 indoor season opener
12/6/2022 12:24:00 PM | Women's Track & Field
St. Paul, Minn. -- St. Thomas Women's Track and Field heads into the 2022-23 indoor season with 14 newcomers among more than 60 competitors.
New cross country coach Ashley Lucas has taken on the Tommies' head coaching role for track and field.
The Purple received 31 points taking the sixth spot out of nine teams in the 2023 Summit League Indoor preseason poll for women's track and field. Leading the way was North Dakota State at 61 points and five first-place votes, followed by South Dakota (60 points and the remaining four votes).
Along with its preseason poll, The Summit League also released its Indoor Track and Field Preseason Athletes to Watch list. The St. Thomas athletes included are sophomore distance runner Molly Desotell, and junior hurdler and sprinter Taynian Walgrave.
A native of Green Bay, Wis., Desotell placed seventh of 66 runners this fall in the conference cross country meet. Last February at the Summit Indoor meet she was a member of the distance-medley relay team with returners Aamaya Lyrek and Lauren Ellefson that took fourth place (12:14.21) and also took 13th place in the mile with a personal-best time of 5:08.31. Desotell also took third place in the 3,000 at the Gopher Classic with a personal-best time of 10:25.35. Last May at the Summit Outdoor meet she placed 13th in the 5,000.
A Prior Lake, Minn., native, Walgrave set a personal-best time of 8.73 in the 60 hurdles at the prelims of the Summit Indoor championships last winter. She took eighth in the finals. Walgrave also set a personal-best time again in the 60 dash at the Gopher Classic with a time of 7.96, which earned her second place. Walgrave also ran on the Toms' seventh-place 4x100 relay last May in the conference outdoor meet.
Also at the Summit Indoor meet last winter, sophomore Caroline Anderson tied for fifth in the high jump (5-3), and the 4x400m relay team that included returners Hailey Hindt and Hannah Cornelius took fifth place with a time of 3:53.34.
At last May's Summit Outdoor meet, sophomore Brianna Schoenrock took 10th in the pole vault with a height of 11-4 1-4 and Ellefson placed 12th in the 1,500 with a time of 4:46.05.
Schedule Talk
The women's first indoor meet will be contested Friday Dec. 9 at the University of Minnesota. The Toms will hold out their distance runners but will have more than two dozen athletes competing.
St. Thomas is scheduled to compete in seven meets in January and February capped by the Feb. 24-25 Summit Indoor championship meet at the University of South Dakota. The lone home meet is set for Friday Jan. 13
Links
Tommie Women's T&F Roster HERE
Tommie Women's T&F 2022 Season-Best Outdoor performance list HERE
Tommie Women's T&F 2002 Season-Best Indoor performance list HERE
Players Mentioned
