UW-Platteville hosts the Pioneer Open
Platteville, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin - Platteville men's and women's track and field team hosted the Pioneer open on Jan. 26. As the second meet in the 2019 indoor track and field season, the Pioneers saw yet another week of improvements in times and marks. The Pioneers competed against the University of Dubuque, Edgewood College, Lakeland University, and Rockford College.
Katie Schilling won the women's 60m hurdles, running a personal best time of 9.23 seconds in the preliminaries. Teammate Casey Reilly finished in second place, running a season best time of 10.08 in the preliminaries. Winning the men's 60m hurdles, Charlie Gifford ran a personal best of 8.20 seconds. Teammates Sean Komro and Grady Rielly took second and third place respectively.
In the women's 60m dash, Gwen Orr took third place with a personal best of 8.15 seconds. Orr won the 200m dash with another personal best of 26.83 seconds. Katheryn Holter and Tina Bean qualified to the 60m finals. Holter improved her 60m best time to 8.32 seconds in the preliminaries. Ryan Swanson ran 7.18 seconds to place second in the men's 60m dash. Teammate Connor Rupke placed third with 7.38 seconds. Swanson won the 200m dash with a season best time of 23.36 seconds. Rupke took second place with 23.65 seconds, followed by teammate Sean Komro finishing in 23.66 seconds.
In the men's 400m dash, Alec Burcham ran under 50 seconds for the first time during an indoor meet. Burchman won the event with a time of 49.93 seconds. Taking second place with a indoor 400m lifetime best, Paul Rapp ran 50.54 seconds. Kyle Buechner took third with 51.52 seconds. In the women's 400m, junior Kayla Schneider won with a time of 1:02.84.
In the women's mile, Caitlyn Ifft ran 5:28.33 for second place. Senior Nolan Wallenkamp won the men's mile with a personal best time of 4:23.70. Alex Clark placed third, also with a personal best of 4:31.15. The 3,000m run was won by sophomore Nick Hein with a time of 9:29.11. Ben Claas took second place in the 3,000m with a personal best time of 9:35.03. In the women's 3,000m Katie Wardinski won the event with a personal best time of 10:30.13.
Zach Lee, Logan Steinhoff, and Zach Klokow competed at UW-Whitewater's Leonard "Squig" Converse Invitational on Friday, Jan. 25. Lee won the 3,000m men's race with 8:30.56. Logan Steinhoff came in sixth with 8:40.37, and Klokow took tenth place with 8:46.74.
The women's 4x400m relay of Schilling, Holter, Madi Shafer, and Haley Ott took first with 4:17.13. The men's 4x400m relay composed of freshmen John Huntley, Ryan Cherry, Davy Urke, and Jacob Downing won with 3:34.93.
Noah Steiner cleared 2.06m (6-9) in the men's high jump to win the event. Olivia Saucedo won the women's high jump with 1.56m (5-1.25). In the women's long jump, Bean jumped 4.87m (15-11.75) for second place. Drew Stanioch, in the men's long jump, finished in second with 6.13m (20-1.5). The men's triple jump was won by Brian Spaeth with 12.92m (42-4.75). Freshman Damani White jumped in second place with 12.81m (42-0.5).
The women's pole vault was won by UW-Platteville's Brittany Ehlen. Ehlen jumped 3.52m (11-6.5). Teammate Jordan Meciej took second with 3.22m (10-6.75). In the men's pole vault, Cody Faust cleared 4.28m (14-0.5), as did Greg Vogt establishing a new personal best vault.
Men's shot put was won by Cole Eastlick. Eastlick threw 14.64m (48-0.5). Sean Cormican threw near a personal best, taking third place with 14.30m (46-11). Alex Girard took fourth place with a new lifetime best throw of 13.76m (45-1.75). Girard won the men's weight throw with 16.77m (55-0.25), shattering his personal best record. Cormican also threw a personal best in the men's weight throw, placing second with 16.44m (53-11.25). Alexander Walechka took third with 15.65m (51-4.25) and Eastlick finished fourth with 15.34m (50-4).
In women's shot put, Brianna Hall took second place with a new personal best throw of 12.54m (41-1.75). Rachel Beuthin threw for third place with 12.50m (41-0.25). Beuthin won the women's weight throw with 14.20m (46-7.25). Hall placed fourth in the weight throw with a throw of 13.87m (45-6.25).
Next weekend, the Pioneers will travel to Waverly, Iowa to compete at Wartburg College in the Wartburg Select.
