Pioneers Men Finish Fifth at WIAC Track and Field Championships

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's track and field team finished fifth at the 2011 WIAC Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

On the men's side UW-LaCrosse edged UW-Oshkosh, 175 to 174 for its 21st-straight conference title.

For the Pioneers, junior Patrick Klein was victorious in the 1,500-meter run in a UW-Platteville Track and Field facility record as well as posting a NCAA provisional mark. Sophomore Aaron Loferski won the 110-meter hurdles in a NCAA provisional time of 14.74 and he was eighth in the 400-meter hurdles (56.39). Sophomore Matthew Ziegler was second in the 400-meter dash (47.797) and teammate Ben Farrell was fourth (48.36). Two thousandths of a second kept Ziegler off the top rung of the championship podium.

Sophomore Aaron Hrubes was fourth in the 100-meter dash (10.70) to set a NCAA provisional mark as well as season best. Hrubes also was fourth in the 200-meter dash (21.58) in a season-best time and NCAA provisional mark.

Freshman Ace McCarty was fourth in the high jump with a season-best clearance of 6-7; plus senior Jason Garvens was fourth in the 5,000-meter run (15:07.07) and junior Anthony Swimm was sixth (15:11.75). Senior Brandon Harms was seventh in the 800-meter run (1:55.31) and junior Ian Yenter was eighth in the decathlon with 5,680 points.  

The Pioneers' 4x100-meter relay team was third in a time of 42.10 and the 4x400-meter relay team was fourth in 3:16.89.