Pioneers win five events in home event

The Pioneer track and field teams hosted the UW-Platteville Select on Saturday, welcoming 11 teams to Williams Fieldhouse. Among those teams were St. Ambrose University, Lakeland College, UW-La Crosse, Clarke University, University of Dubuque, Edgewood College, Rockford University, Lawrence University, Marian University, Coe College and Central College. No team scores were kept in the competition.

The UW-Platteville women's track and field team took home two first place finishes. The first came in the triple jump with Amber Williams jumping 38-6.25, ranking her fourth in the indoor national standings. The second came in the 4x400-meter relay with Amber Williams, Kayla Schneider, Megan Marotz, and Devan Montgomery running a time of 4:04.10.

Three Pioneer women finished second in their events on Saturday. Senior Devan Montgomery ran a time of 2:22.45 to take second place in the 800 run. Another senior, Abigail Merriam, also took second jumping 5-1 in the high jump, just under her personal best by a quarter of an inch. Freshman Rachel Beuthin placed second in the shot put with a throw of 43-5.25, improving her school record by just under an inch. Beuthin continues to be in the top 10 for shot put nationally.

Other top performances included Hannah Ihlenfeldt and Camille Felton in the 5,000 run. Ihlenfeldt grabbed third place running a time of 19:39.73, followed by Felton talking fourth with a time of 19:47.57, a 40-second indoor personal best. Sophomore Brittany Ehlen took third place in the pole vault with an indoor personal best, completing a vault of 10-10.25. Senior Megan Marotz took fourth in the finals of the 60 hurdles (9.62), followed by Krysta Parson talking sixth with a personal best of 9.70.

The Pioneer men's track and field team took away three wins on Saturday. The first came in the mile; Zach Lee finished in a time of 4:26.50, followed closely by two teammates Benjamin Rhode (second, 4:27.60) and Ben Nemec (fourth, 4:31.90). Senior Matthew Dwyer took away first place in the pole vault jumping 16-1.25, putting him in the top five in the nation. Teammate Samuel Bornitzke came in second with a vault of 14-1.75, followed by Josh Miller who tied for third (13-7.75). The final win came from Ian LaMere in the 3,000, winning with a school record-breaking time of 8:12.06. LaMere broke the school record held previously by Tyler Sigl by over five seconds. LaMere now leads the indoor national leaderboard in the 3,000. Teammates Logan Steinhoff (third, 8:44.90) and Walker Rynes (fourth, 8:44.97) continued the trend of setting personal bests in the 3,000 as well.

The Pioneer men took away several second-place finishes as well. Freshman Ryan Swanson ran a personal best in the 60 dash to finish second in the finals with a time of 7.16. Junior Mitch Frager grabbed second place in the 5,000, running a personal best time of 15:51.38. Sophomore Jacob Hirsbrunner took second place while Noah Steiner took third place in the high jump, both jumping 6-5. Senior thrower Kyle Whaley came in second place in the shot put with a throw of 51-4.5. Taking fourth place in the shot put was junior Johnathan Delgado (46-11.75). Whaley also grabbed a third-place finish in the weight throw with a personal best throw of 55-11.

Other top performances came from Wyatt Thompson in the 400 dash, coming in third with a time of 50.08, putting him about a quarter of a second ahead of his time at last year's meet. In the 800, freshmen Kyle Riege led the Pioneers in third place (2:00.28) followed up by Nolan Wallenkamp who took fourth (2:00.82). Two freshmen made it into the 60 hurdle finals, Matthew Hokanson took third (8.69) while Charlie Gifford took fourth (8.73), both running personal best times. In the triple jump, Brian Spaeth jumped to third place with a jump of 41-5.75.

The Pioneer men's and women's track and field teams will travel next weekend to Waverly, Iowa to compete at Wartburg College in the Wartburg College Indoor Select Cancer Awareness Meet. Events will begin Friday, Feb. 3 with the heptathlon and pentathlon, followed by a full schedule on Saturday with field events beginning at 10 a.m. and running events beginning at noon.

Written by Patricia Laufenberg, UW-Platteville Athletics