Williams and Dwyer break school records at Spartan Invitational

Two school records fell at the Spartan Invitational on Friday night. The University of Dubuque hosted meet saw Amber Williams break her own school record in the triple jump and Matt Dwyer break the two year old pole vault record.

Williams broke the school record on her second jump of the night, leaping to a distance of 40-2.75 (12.26m). Williams expanded on her national lead in the event and is now ahead of second place by over a foot. Williams is also ahead of the next conference jumper by over a foot and a half.

Dwyer improved on his previous pole vault career best and the facility record by clearing 16-1.25 (4.91m) on his first attempt. The bar was moved to a school record height of 16-3.25 (4.96m) and after two failed attempts, Dwyer got over the bar clean and claimed the record. The record had previously been set by Jared Bradfish during the 2014 season. Dwyer's jump moves him into fifth place on the Division 3 performance list.

As a team, the men claimed the title winning the eight team meet with 146 points over Augustana's 105 points. The women claimed third place with 88 points behind Loras' 93 points and hosts Dubuque's 100 points.

The pioneer men's only other winner of the night was Walker Rynes in the 3,000 meter run. Rynes ran a strong finish to the race to overtake the lead from teammate Logan Steinhoff. Rynes and Steinhoff crossed the line in 8:54.99 and 8:58.29 respectively, career best times for both.

The pioneer women were also able to claim the win in the long jump. Megan Marotz overtook the lead from Krista Bushkofsky from Clarke on her fifth jump. Marotz moved ahead of Bushkofsky by one centimeter jumping to a new career best 16-11.5 (5.16m). Bushkofsky was not able to respond on her final attempt.

The Pioneer women also saw wins on the track from Devan Montgomery in the 400 meter dash and Johanna Meister in the 800m. Montgomery just broke the 1 minute mark crossing the finish in a time of 59.99 while Meister pulled away from the field to cross the finish in 2:22.31. Both women ran career bests and currently ranked in the top-15 in the WIAC season performance list.

With the Spartan Invitational the Pioneers conclude their regular season. Next for the Pioneers are the WIAC Championships hosted by UW-Oshkosh. The two-day event will begin Friday, February 26 at 11:30am with the field events.