Pioneers Open Outdoor Season at Wash U

The Pioneer Track and Field teams opened the outdoor season at the Washington University Invite in St. Louis, Missouri. The two-day competition was highlighted by the Pioneer throwers winning both the men's and women's shot put.

Coming off of an All-American indoor campaign, Kyle Whaley took the shot put title in 16.03m (52-7.25), besting second place by more than four feet. Teammate Johnathan Delgado took third in 13.76m (45-1.75). Whaley also won the hammer throw with a personal best throw of 54.00m (177-2).

Freshman Rachel Beuthin opened her outdoor season winning the shot put with a 12.98m (42-7) throw. Beuthing, the indoor record holder will have her eyes on breaking the oldest standing UW-Platteville school record. The outdoor shot put school record was set in 1976 by Lynn Colby with a throw of 13.41m (44-0).

Fellow freshman thrower Brianna Hall finished second in the hammer throw with a mark of 40.07m (131-5). She also finished fourth in the discus with a throw of 34.21m (112-3).

Freshman Alex Walechka took second in the discus throw with a mark of 42.92m (140-10). Senior teammate Marsk Senst finished third with a best throw of 42.88m (140-8). Senst also finished fourth in the hammer throw with a toss of 44.48m (145-11).

Noah Steiner jumped 1.92m (6-3.5) and finished third in the high jump.

Brittany Ehlen placed third in the pole vault with a clearance of 3.30m (10-10).

Matt Dwyer cleared 4.95m (16-2.75) to finish fourth in the pole vault.

Megan Marotz jumped 5.02m (16-5.75) to finish second in the long jump. She also finished fourth in the 400m hurdles crossing the finish in 1:06.44.

Krysta Parson finished third in the long jump with a mark of 4.91m (16-1.5). Parson also finished fourth in the 200m with a personal best time of 26.44.

Ryan Swanson qualified to finals in the 100m dash and finished fifth with a time of 11.46.

Alec Burcham finished second in the 400m dash in 49.33 seconds. Greg Stribling followed close behind Burcham with a time of 50.08 to finish fourth.

Walker Rynes finished ninth out of 62 runners in the 10,000m. Rynes ran over a two minute personal best to finish with a time of 31:27.80.

Charlie Gifford and Matt Hokanson advanced to the finals in the 110m hurdles. Gifford finished second in 15.45 while Hokanson crossed in 15.94 to finish fourth. Hokanson came back to finish fourth in the 400m hurdles in 58.51 seconds.

The Pioneers continue their season at UW-La Crosse next Saturday.