SEWARD, Neb. – The throwers and distance runners led the way for the College of Saint Mary track & field team Saturday at the Concordia Classic.

"We've finally hit a little bit of a rhythm with our training and practice plans and we're starting to see some progress made in many of our event groups," CSM Coach Jerrid Johansen said.

CSM's best individual finish of the day came from Claire Caspersen, who placed second in the shot put with a throw of 13.76m. Caspersen leads a strong throwing group that included a 9^th place finish from Tavia Williams with 11.58, a 14th place finish from Marie Bias with 11.04, a 22nd place finish from Georgia Carroll with 10.29 and a 25^th place finish from Clare Ullery with 9.61.

"The throwers had a solid day," Johansen said. "Claire had her second-best mark of the year. It's taken her a little bit to get back into the swing of things after the long layoff, but today she showed flashes of what she's capable of. Tavia had an outstanding day as she set new personal bests in both the weight throw and the shot put. It's great to see Tavia rewarded with positive results because she loves to throw and loves to compete."

In the weight throw, Ullery placed 20^th with 12.77 and Williams finished 23^rd with 12.00.

Another big race for the Flames was the mile with nine runners competing.

Corinne Mead led the way for CSM with a 13^th place finish in 5:44.24 which was a personal best and also broke the school record. Teammate Chloe Inhelder took 14^th in 5:46.03, Jocelyn Farhar was 18^th in 5:56.80, Kiley Craft placed 20^th in 5:59.51, Madeline Krause finished 21^st in 6:05.61, Yenifer Juan Jesus placed 27^th in 6:18.70, Kaitlyn Thalman took 29^th in 6:33.01, Alivia Austin was 30^th in 6:46.15 and Emma Lee took 31^st in 7:54.73.

Mead had a big day as she competed again later in her first 1,000m race and placed 14^th overall in 3:26.08. That time was the second-fastest time in program history.

"We've been challenging Corinne to race with a little more confidence and show a little bit more courage when she steps out onto the track," Johansen said. "She's always been capable, but I felt like today was a nice step in her overall development as a runner. Hopefully, she remembers that feeling from today and can carry it forward."

In other field events: Olivia Joyce took 13^th in the triple jump with 9.73m and 20^th in the long jump with 4.81; Allison Isaacson was 14^th in the pole vault with 2.87m and Taylor Hrabik finished 17^th in the pole vault with 2.72m.

In other running events: Kellesse Heard was 11^th in the 60m dash in 8.16 and 21^st in the 200m in 27.76; Hrabik was 20^th in the 60m in 8.46; Ava Hilger placed 22^nd in the 60m is 8.61; Natalie Briggs was 15^th in both the 600m in 1:50.12 and the 800m in 2:43.05; Brooke Wigdahl was 11^th in the 800m in 2:38.59 and 18^th in the 600m in 1:52.76; Mira Fosmer was fourth in the 800m in 2:33.34; Peyton Bell placed 12^th in the 800m in 2:39.99; Autumn Simons finished 17^th in the 800m in 2:44.43; Ella Miller was 15^th in the 3,000m in 12:10.09 and Krause was 18^th in the 3,000m in 12:26.51.

"Ella ran a 20-second personal best as she won her heat of the 3,000," Johansen said. "She raced with a lot of confidence today and ran a smart race over the 15 laps. She let a couple of other athletes take out the race early and then slowly but steadily worked her way to the front. Once she got there, she kept up the pace and pulled away for the victory. Crossing the finish line first is a welcome experience for any athlete at any level and Ella can feel good about her performance today."

Johansen said it was good to see a lot of improvements today, but also said there's more to work on.

"If I had to pick two words to summarize our day I would say 'cautious' and 'distracted,'" Johansen said. "We have a lot of young and inexperienced athletes and I think they're still trying to find their way. And we have some athletes who are worried about things that ultimately aren't important to their personal performance. We're still in the learning phase, but we need to come around quickly over the next two weeks before the GPAC meet."

The Flames are back in action next weekend at the Fred Beile Classic at Doane University.