YANKTON, S.D. – Claire Caspersen earned a second-place finish in the shot put to lead the College of Saint Mary track & field team at the Great Plains Athletic Conference Indoor Championships Saturday.

The Flames took 10^th place in team competition with 13 points.

"Overall, it was a pretty good day for us," CSM Coach Jerrid Johansen said. "I thought we might be capable of scoring a few more points as a team, but adding five or six more points really comes down to just a couple of seconds or a couple of inches here and there. We always want a little more, but the athletes who competed today represented our program well."

Concordia University won the women's meet with 206 points. The GPAC Championships were hosted by Mount Marty University this year.

Caspersen's throw of 14.24m (46-08.75) earned her the red-ribbon finish and earned eight points for the Flames in team competition. She will advance to compete at the NAIA National Championships.

"Claire had an outstanding day today and competed very well against a tough field," Johansen said. "She loves to compete and has made a really good habit of having her best days in our championship meets. Four of her throws were over 14 meters – which is outstanding. It's just that (Abby) Magnuson from Dakota Wesleyan had one really good throw to take the title. The consistency Claire has shown recently is a good sign heading into the indoor championships in two weeks."

Teammate Tavia Williams took 15^th in the event with 11.39m (37-04.5).

In other field events, Olivia Joyce was 15^th in the triple jump with 10.16 and Allison Isaacson failed to make the minimum height in the pole vault.

CSM's 4 x 800 relay team of Mira Fosmer, Autumn Simons, Peyton Bell and Corinne Mead had the next best finish for the Flames with a 5^th place finish in 10:15.47.

"I thought our relay team competed well today, with Corinne running a great third-leg to put us in the mix with the 3^rd and 4^th place teams," Johansen said. "We just needed a little bit more out of our other runners to make that happen."

In running events: Kellesse Heard took 10^th in the 60m (7.96); Natalie Briggs was 15^th in the 600m (1:49.83); Fosmer placed eighth in the 800m (2:26.39); Simons was 17^th in the 800m (2:39.04); Brooke Wigdahl took 14^th in the 1,000m (3:20.15) and 15^th in the mile (5:43.33); Mead finished 15^th in the 1,000m (3:20.42); Lorena Ramirez placed 10^th in the 3,000m (5:43.33) and Chloe Inhelder took ninth in the 5,000m (19:52.56).

Fosmer's eighth-place finish in the 800m helped her earn All-Conference honors along with Caspersen.

"Mira has been solid all season long and has shown steady progress through her first indoor season," Johansen said. "I feel like she's just barely scratching the surface of what she's capable of achieving in that 800, so earning all-conference honors when she still has so much to improve upon has to be exciting for Mira heading into the outdoor season."

Johansen said two other standout performances came from Heard in the 60m and Ramirez in the 3,000. Heard dipped under 8 seconds for the first time in the 60m as 7.96 is the second-fastest time in program history. She just missed making the finals by one-hundredth of a second. Ramirez ran to a 22-second personal best in the 3,000 meters and finished just outside the medals in 10^th place. 

"Lorena is pretty unassuming, but she is competitive and is willing to push herself to the limit whenever she races," Johansen said. "Tenth place is a great result for Lorena and it was a nice way to end our meet.

Caspersen will compete at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field National Championships in Brookings, S.D., on March 2. The rest of the CSM athletes will have a little break before the outdoor season starts at the end of March.