Nationally Ranked Track and Field Teams Compete in WIAC Triangular

The Pioneer track and field teams hit the road to Stevens Point Saturday morning for their first away meet of the 2017 Indoor season. The No. 11 nationally ranked Pioneer men and No. 12 ranked Pioneer women competed against UW-Stevens Point and UW-Eau Claire. The Pointer men are currently ranked No. 9 while the Eau Claire men hold the No. 6 spot in the rankings. The Eau Claire women go into the season with the No. 2 ranking in the nation.

The women walked away with four wins. Amber Williams accounted for two of those wins in the 60 meter hurdles and in the long jump. Williams ran the third fastest time in the hurdle  preliminary to come back in the finals and snatch the win from Eau Claire's Tommie Brenner by one hundredth of a second in a time of 9.32. Williams also won the long jump with a leap of 18-4.25.

Freshman thrower Rachel Beuthin won the shot put with a 43-3 toss in the fourth round. Beuthin has competed three times since stepping foot on campus and has thrown past the previous school record all three times. Saturday's throw was her second best behind last week's school record throw of 43-8.5. Beuthin is proving to be one of the best shot putters in the WIAC and a potential national qualifier.

Chelsey Heiden opened her final indoor season with a win in the 3,000 meter run. Heiden finished 11 seconds ahead of teammate Katie Wardinski with a time of 10:37.37. Sophomore Wardinski's time of 10:48.59 was a 13 second personal best and 45 seconds faster than her opener from last year.

Top three individual finishes also came from freshman Kayla Schneider in the 800 meters (2nd, 2:34.20),freshman Haley Nelson in the high jump (2nd, 5-1), and sophomore Brittany Ehlen in the pole vault (3rd, 10-8.25).

The women finished with 71.5 points behind UW-Stevens Points 101 and UW-Eau Claire's 128.5 points.

The men's team finished with 95 points ahead of UW-Eau Claire's 69 points. Host UW-Stevens Point won with 136.5 points.

The Pioneer men won five of the fourteen contested events. Senior Ian LaMere made his season debut winning the mile in a new personal best of 4:13.70. The 3-time outdoor and 2-time cross country national champion is expected to focus on longer distances as he looks for his first indoor title.

Senior Kyle Whaley looks set to improve on last year's 15th place national finish. Whaley won the shot put with a 53-4.5 toss in the final round, a throw that puts him 2 feet ahead of his opener from last season.

Senior Matt Dwyer is also ahead of pace from last year's opener. Dwyer jumped 2 inches higher compared to this point last year to win the pole vault with a jump of 15-7.25. Dwyer looks to improve on last year's 5th place finish at nationals.

Freshman Noah Steiner impresed with his win in the high jump. Steiner cleared 6-6.75 making him one of the best high jumpers in Pioneer history. Still three inches away from the Pioneer school record, Steiner will look to chip away at that mark throughout the season.

Sophomore Zach Lee won the 800 meters with a time of 1:58.23. He was followed by teammates Ben Rhode in second and Tonie Johnson in third place. Rhode and Johnson ran times of 1:58.66 and 1:58.74 respectively.

Other top three finishes came from Alec Burcham (2nd, 50.13), Mitchell Frager in the 3,000 meters (3rd, 9:09.95), and Whaley in the weight throw (2nd, 53-10.25).

The Pioneers will be back home next weekend to host the Pioneer Open. Competition will begin on Saturday with field events at 11am and running events at 11:30am.