Faust and Walechka post nationally ranked marks in decathlon and discus events

Rock Island, Ill. - The Pioneer men's track and field team made their way down to Augustana College to compete at the Meet of Champions on Friday, April 19. A distance squad traveled to UW - La Crosse to compete in the 10,000m run. 

Senior Katie Wardinski ran 35:59.16 in the 10,000m, nearly a two minute personal best time. Wardinski's time sits near 13th on the national rankings list and set a new school record for the Pioneers. Four more runners achieved personal best times in the men's 10,000m run. Zach Klokow crossed in 31:13.94, Logan Steinhoff ran 31:18.65, Kyle Herbrand finished just after in 31:27.92, and Alex Clark ran 32:25.63. 

At Augustana College, the decathlon concluded its two-day competition. Senior Cody Faust finished with a score of 6,420 points, winning the event with a field size of 13 athletes. Faust ranks at fifth in the national standings, with much more to give to the decathlon in the coming weeks. The Pioneer women's track and field member, Cassandra Meyer, finished up her heptathlon event in third place with 3,236 points. 

In the 110m hurdles, junior Charlie Gifford ran a less-than-ideal race crossing in fourth place with 15.92 seconds. Cole Stugelmeyer and Jacob DeBonis also placed in the final heat. Stugelmeyer took seventh with a time of 16.23 seconds and DeBonis finished in eighth with 16.27 seconds. 

Sophomore Zach Frei placed seventh in the 200m dash with a personal best time of 22.37 seconds. Alec Burcham was ninth with 22.50 seconds.

Taking ninth in the 400m dash with a personal best time, freshman John Huntley ran 50.19 seconds. Teammates Kyle Buechner and Riley Bendorf were close behind running 50.70 seconds and 50.97 seconds respectively. In the 400m hurdles, Cody Harren took tenth with 58.57 seconds. 

Alexander Walechka threw a massive personal best throw in the discus to win the event. Walechka threw 52.71m (172-11), which currently ranks him at third in national rankings. Three more Pioneer men placed in the top nine at the Meet of Champions. Alex Girard threw 48.55m (159-3) for fifth place. Ben Veverka took seventh with 48.03m (157-7) and Cole Eastlick placed ninth with 44.32m (145-5). Girard is ranked at number 19 in national rankings after today's discus throw. In the shot put, Eastlick finished in seventh place with a throw of 14.76m (48-5.25) and Sean Cormican took eighth place with 14.69m (48-2.5). 

Drew Stanioch hit a personal best jump in the long jump, leaping 6.30m (20-8) for eighth place. Brian Spaeth jumped 13.45m (44-1.5) in the triple jump for sixth place. 

Freshman Jack Soda took fourth place in the pole vault with 4.35m (14-3.25), paving a new personal best mark. 

The Pioneers will be competing next at UW-Whitewater on Saturday, April 27. A portion of the track and field team will be competing at Drake Relays Friday, April 26 - Saturday, April.