Final Results

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Saint John's track and field finished second – two points from first – out of 11 teams at the 2023 MIAC Indoor Championships on Sunday, Feb. 26, at Macalester's Leonard Center.

Bethel won its first indoor title with 143.5 points, followed by SJU (141.5), St. Olaf (131.5) and Carleton (105).

The Johnnies entered the meet's final event – the 4x400-meter relay – with a seven-point lead over the Royals (140.5-133.5). BU, however, won the event with a time of 3:21.46 and SJU (Caden Wheeler, Will Mattock, Owen Montreuil, Nick St. Peter) finished eighth (3:31.00).

The two-point difference in the final standings includes a two-point swing that was decided by .01 of a second in the 4x200-meter relay. The Johnnies (Emanuel Popoca, Brady Labine, Wheeler, Kevin Arthur) claimed third overall with a time of 1:29.80 in the first heat, 0:00.01 behind Bethel (second heat) in second place (1:29.79) and 0:00.49 from Concordia (third heat) in first (1:29.31). SJU's time was also 0:00.74 from the program record.

The Johnnies collected 21 points in the pole vault, led by junior Joe Charbonneau (New Richmond, Wis.) and his convincing win with a season-best height of 4.91 meters. He tied with teammate Shawn Schindler '22 for the conference title in the event outdoors last May. Freshman Kole Guth (St. Peter, Minn.) earned his first All-MIAC (top three) honor in third (4.37 meters), followed by junior Dan Eickhoff (St. Cloud, Minn./Cathedral) in fifth (4.27 meters) and senior Mason DeGross (New Prague, Minn.) in eighth (4.17 meters).

The triple jump was also a popular event for the Johnnies, who totaled 17 points. Last year's MIAC indoor champion in the event, senior Elijah Wade (Waco, Texas/Vanguard College Prep) finished second with a mark of 14.08 meters. Senior Alex Crnkovich (Omaha, Neb./Mount Michael Benedictine), sophomore Zach Schaffer (Chaska, Minn.) and sophomore Anthony Thurk (St. Bonifacius, Minn./Waconia) followed consecutively in fifth (13.03 meters), sixth (13.02 meters) and seventh (13.01 meters).

Junior Lloyd Young (Bloomington, Minn./Kennedy) recorded his sixth All-MIAC honor (two in cross country, three indoors and one outdoors) with a third-place finish (8:29.73) in the 3,000 meters.

Fresh off yesterday's second-place finish in the weight throw, senior Jaeden Frost (Omro, Wis.) placed fifth (14.08 meters) in the shot put and senior Kevin Arthur (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park) was fifth (22.46) in the 200-meter dash. Senior Dillon Diekmann (Lake Elmo, Minn./Cretin-Derham Hall) claimed seventh (2:34.45) in the 1,000 meters.