Pioneers led by National Champion and three All-Americans at NCAA Championships

UW–Platteville junior Ian LaMere showed his flair for the dramatic, winning a national championship in the men’s 10,000 meters Thursday at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.

May 27, 2015

Written by: Jason Nihles, courtesy of the Platteville Journal

CANTON, N.Y. — UW–Platteville junior Ian LaMere showed his flair for the dramatic, winning a national championship in the men's 10,000 meters Thursday at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field National Championships.

LaMere used a late burst of energy on the final lap of the grueling 25-lap race to overtake top-seeded Bijan Mazaheri of Williams College at the finish line, winning the event by a narrow .007 (seven thousands of a second) in 30:45.151. Twelve years ago Corey Stellljes was UW–Platteville head coach Tom Antczak's first national champion by winning the 10K on the very same track.

LeMere, a 2012 graduate of Green Bay Southwest, became just the seventh outdoor national champion in the history of the UW–Platteville men's track and field program. Four Pioneer women have won outdoor national titles. Saturday afternoon LeMere earned a second All-American award with a fourth-place finish in the men's 5,000 meters with a new school record time of 14:22.32. LeMere earned Indoor All-American honors in the 5,000 meters with a fifth-place finish at the DIII Indoor National Championships on March 13–14 in Winston–Salem, N.C. LeMere scored 15 team points and helped the Pioneer men earn a tie for seventh place with 22 points.

Senior Dan Poh earned All-American honors and scored four points for the Pioneers by closing out his career with a fifth-place finish in Saturday's men's javelin with a PR of 206'6" on his sixth and final throw.

Freshman Dan Arnold also earned All-American honors and scored three team points with a sixth-place finish in the men's 110-meter high hurdles with a new school record time of 14.16 seconds on Saturday. Arnold won his heat in the Friday's prelims in 14.44 seconds.

Junior Garrett Riggs cleared 15'10½" to place 10th in the men's pole vault on Friday.

The men's 4x100 relay team of Mitchell Dowel, Trevor Whitehead, Brandon Navin and Caleb Martens finished 11th in the event after not qualifying for finals.

UW–Platteville sophomore Amber Williams earned a pair of All-American honors in the women's competition. She finished fifth in the long jump with a leap of 18'10½" on Thursday. Williams then placed sixth in the triple jump Saturday with a distance of 39'4½".

Three other Pioneer women competed at nationals. Senior Emily Kjos placed 11th in the javelin with a toss of 138–8. Fellow senior Caitlin Thompson finished 11th in the two-day heptathlon with 4,562 points. Junior Alyssa Iserman cleared 5'4½" to place 17th in the high jump.

The WIAC swept the top three spots in the men's team competition with UW–La Crosse winning the title with 71 points, followed by UW–Eau Claire (46) and UW–Whitewater (42). The UW–La Crosse women completed the team sweep scoring 73 points. UW–Eau Claire finished a distant second with 43 points.