COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - In their first meet in two weeks and second meet of the year, the Hamline men's track and field team headed north to Collegeville to take on both Saint John's and Division II Southwest Minnesota State (SMSU), recording seven performances within the top four finishers.
 
In terms of team points, the Johnnies won the meet with 100 points, followed by SMSU who compiled 84 points. The Pipers totaled 55 points on the day.
 
HU got event wins from junior Thomas Amberg in the long jump and senior Joe Martin in the shot put. Amberg hit a new personal-best distance, with a 5.86m mark, defeating a Southwest Minnesota State athlete to win the event. Martin recorded a distance of 17.18m, beating out 16 other competitors, including five athletes from SMSU.
 
In the high jump, senior Jarick Rieffer and junior Christian Velishek each jumped 1.80m, but Rieffer made it on his first try, putting him in second place and Velishek made it on his second attempt, putting him in third.
 
In the 60-meter hurdles, junior Zach Angstman finished third with a time of 9.01 and McKail Hertzog placed sixth with a time of 10.24. Angstman was only bested in the race by two Division II runners.
 
Sophomore Josh Peterson placed in the top-six in two different events. He qualified for the finals in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.43 and then placed sixth in the finals with a time of 7.51. First year Tae'Vion Wilkins just missed the finals in this event by .05 of a second. Peterson was also sixth in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 24.19.
 
Juniors Aric Brodie and Tyler Gallagher had a solid showing in the mile run, finishing fourth (4:38.96) and sixth (4:41.40), respectively, out of 23 competitors. In the 400-meter race, first year Raul Ortiz placed fourth with a time of 56.61 and in the 600-meter run, senior Matt Lorah placed sixth with a time of 1:30.90, beating five other runners.
 
The Pipers will have two weeks off before competing next, heading to a meet at St. Thomas on Friday, February 19.