Saint John's track and field opens its 2019 season on Friday, Jan. 18, at the St. Thomas Invitational. The meet is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start in St. Paul. – Heat Sheets | Live Results

WHO WILL BE THERE: In addition to SJU and the host Tommies, other schools scheduled to attend Friday's meet include Augsburg, Crown, Lakehead (Ontario), Division I Minnesota and Wisconsin-River Falls.

A LOOK AT THE JOHNNIES: Saint John's begins the 2019 season hoping to build on a solid season in 2018 with a fifth-place finish (indoor) and third-place finish (outdoor) at the MIAC Championships. At indoor, senior Drew Schoenbauer (New Prague, Minn.) earned All-MIAC distinction (top three individually, champion relay) with a second-place finish (6.97) in the 60-meter dash and finished fourth (22.54) in the 200-meter dash. Junior Collin Trout (Cloquet, Minn.) also earned All-MIAC distinction with a third-place finish (13.57 meters) in the triple jump.

SJU's 4x200-meter relay, which included Schoenbauer and sophomore Ryan Miller (Maple Grove, Minn./Totino-Grace), placed second with a time of 1:30.31. 

Outdoors, Miller won the 100-meter dash (10.59) one day after setting the SJU school record in the prelims. Schoenbauer joined Miller as All-MIAC finishing third (10.92) and sophomore Nick Gannon (St. Paul, Minn./Hill-Murray) claimed fifth (11.08). Miller picked up another All-MIAC honor with a third-place finish (21.91) in the 200-meter dash, while Schoenbauer followed in fourth (22.12).

Miller and Gannon teamed up with sophomores Brady Labine (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) and Charles Haik (St. Paul, Minn./Mounds View) to win the 4x100-meter relay, the program's first in the event since 1999, with a time of 42.05 seconds. 

Senior Max Martin (Minneapolis, Minn./Wayzata) won the 400-meter hurdles (53.94), followed by Mitch Peck '18 and Labine (54.90) to sweep the event's All-MIAC honors. Martin also earned All-MIAC distinction with a third-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles (15.12).

Senior Kevin Lamb (Avon, Minn./Albany) shaved nearly eight seconds off his prelim time (4:09.40) to finish sixth (4:01.47) in the 1,500 meters.

MARVELOUS MILLER: Miller broke a 50-year-old school record in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.57 seconds last May in the prelims at the MIAC Outdoor Championships in Northfield. He followed that up by running 10.59 the following day to claim the conference title. At the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships, Miller finished 10th out of 20 sprinters in the 100-meter dash to miss the final by 0.01 seconds. In addition to setting SJU's all-time 100-meter dash record, Miller also recorded the fastest 200-meter dash time by an SJU freshman (21.91), edging out Schoenbauer's 2016 time (21.94). Miller's time stands as the fourth-fastest in SJU history.  

SCHOOL RECORD: Sprinters Gannon, Schoenbauer, Labine and Miller combined to set a school record in the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 41.32 seconds last May at Wisconsin-La Crosse's Last-Chance Qualifier. The quartet tied the record a week later to finish 12th out of 16 teams at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships. The time broke SJU's previous record of 41.76 seconds, set in 1999, by nearly a half-second.