GAINESVILLE, Fla.— The Ave Maria Track and Field team competed in the Sun Conference Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday. The Gyrenes combined for seven podium finishes with four for the men and three for the women. As a team, the women finished in fifth place and the men finished in sixth place, both out of seven teams.

Donavan Mattson led the Gyrene men with two podium finishes. The graduate student took second in the mile with a season-best time of 4:21.89 and second in the 5000 meters with a time of 14:56.32.

Freshman David Giles was the other individual Gyrene to reach the podium, taking third in the 3000 meters with a season best time of 8:43.23.

One relay team found the podium for the Gyrene men with John Halvorsen, Luke Petitt, Sebastian Shea and Benjamin Freeze getting bronze in the 4 x 800 relay.

The Gyrene women had just one individual win a medal with Maria Talafuse placing third in the 3000 meter race walk. The senior posted a time of 17:17.37, which qualified her for the NAIA B Cut.

Two relay teams got medals for Gyrene women as the women's distance medley team took second. Esther Shipley, Madison Thomas, Allsion Watkins and Anabella Descalzo combined for a time of 13:01.16 over 4000 meters and beat St. Thomas by nine seconds to secure silver.

The final podium spot for the Gyrenes was in the women's 4 x 800 meter relay as Isabelle Meyer, Descalzo, Maria Gutierrez and Regina Baird took bronze with a time of 10:07.13. Ave Maria again beat out St. Thomas, this time by over 41 seconds, to secure their third place finish.

As a team, the Gyrene women finished in fifth place with 60 points. The highest scoring event for Ave Maria was the mile with nine points as Shipley finished fourth and Thomas finished fifth for five and four points, respectively. Southeastern won the women's competition with 291 points, followed by St. Thomas with 223 and Keiser with 82.

The Gyrene men finished sixth with 44 points. The highest scoring event for the men was also the mile as Mattson finished second for eight points and Connor Coyle scored one point in eighth place. Coyle beat out ninth place by five seconds to earn the extra point.

The championships conclude the indoor season and the Gyrenes now turn their attention outdoors. Their first competition is SEU Fire Invitational in Lakeland, Florida, March 13-14.