“I don’t know if it will ever sink in, being a National Champion,” senior Kayla Goeman said of her weekend at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The St. Thomas women’s distance medley relay team of Emily Gapinski, Goeman, Angela Tipp and Megan Terukina were crowned National Champions last weekend after racing past the competition with a final time of 11:45.26.
The quartet came into the event seeded ninth, and was able to defy the odds and supplant themselves into the history books, becoming just the third MIAC team in history to capture a National Championship for women’s track and field relays.
“We never let the ninth seed get into our heads. We knew what we could accomplish if we let it rip,” Goeman added. “We were so excited to come in and surprise some people; I think we accomplished that.”
Terukina got the Tommies off to a good start in the race, fighting to not stay boxed into lane one. Tipp then moved the team into third place on her leg of the race before handing the baton off to Goeman who narrowed the gap even further.
The final stretch was left to junior Emily Gapinski. A mile left to run, and two spots to move up. After closing the gap, Gapinski came even with the lead runner from the University of Chicago, and made her move to pass with 200 meters left, sealing the win and the championship for the Tommies.
“Its not something that happens very often, and when it does it’s pretty special,” coach Joe Sweeney said. “As each leg went off, it just got better and better and better, until just like that… we got a shot and ended up winning.”
The first-place finish earned all four runners All-American honors, and collected ten points for St. Thomas overall; a perfect ending to the indoor season, according to Tipp.
“I could not be happier. It is still unbelievable that this happened and I am constantly running it through my head,” Tipp explained. “The easiest way to answer is that I really could not have ended my senior year last indoor NCAA Championships with a better team surrounding me cheering, and the perfect group of girls to run with me in the (distance medley relay).”
The members of the relay team were not the only ones surpassing expectations at the meet, however.
Junior Gabrielle Pepin placed seventh in the 5,000-meters with an unofficial time of 17:07, a career best by 19 seconds. Senior Melissa Engstrom also clocked a career best time in the mile, finishing with a time of 5:02.39, good for a seventh-place finish as well.
“(Melissa) ran a great prelim race to make finals and then followed that up the very next day, less than 24 hours later, with super-great effort,” Sweeney said. “For (Gabrielle) to run her best when it meant a lot and to move up to where she could… That was very, very, special.”
Both runners were named All-Americans, making all six St. Thomas participants at the weekend’s events All-Americans.
Each of the seventh-place finishes added two more points for St. Thomas. The Tommies final tally of 14 team points earned them a tie for 13th place.
“Run your best when it means the most,” Goeman said was something they hear a lot from their coaches. “We definitely made it count this past weekend. I think I can speak for all the girls when I say that winning a National Title is a once in a lifetime experience, and something that motivates you to work even harder heading into outdoors.”
The team will enjoy a short break before gearing up for the outdoor season, beginning with the Hamline Invitational on April 11.
Scottie Sikich can be reached at siki3549@stthomas.edu.