Pioneers' Men's Track and Field Team Finishes Third at Augustana Meet of Champions

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's track and field team finished third at the Augustana Meet of Champions on Saturday in Rock Island, Illinois. The Pioneers recorded 140.50 points, just 5.5 points back of runner-up and WIAC rival UW-Whitewater and host Augustana claimed the team title with 240 points.

UW-Platteville won the 4x100-meter relay in a season-best time of 41.63, edging host Augustana by 19 hundredths of a second. In the field events, Mark Niemann won the javelin with a throw of 182-10, a little over four feet further than his closest competitor. Teammate Daniel Poh was fifth with a toss of 168-9. Ace McCarty and Andrew Kissner led a one-two finish in the high jump with a clearance of 6-6 3/4 and 6-4 3/4, respectively.

The Pioneers also went one-two in the pole vault including Jared Bradfish and Chas Spangenberg with matching clearances of 15-5. Matthew Felten and Jake Gregerson were fifth (13-11 1/4) and seventh (13-5 1/4), respectively. Jake Wiederholt was fourth in the discus with a season-best toss of 151-4 and sixth in the shot put with a throw of 49-8 1/4. Preston Baker was fifth in the triple jump with a leap of 41-0 1/4 and ninth in the high jump with a clearance of 6-2 3/4. Jacob Dailey was 10th in the discus with a throw of 159-1.

On the track, Joel Walden cruised to a 12-second victory in the 5,000-mter run in a time of 15:13.52. Aaron Hrubes was second in the 200-meter dash in a season-best time of 22.06. Aaron Loferski and Patrick Kessenich were sixth (15.45) and eighth (15.68) in the 110-meter hurdles. Lynn Oyawiri and Casey Goffinet were fourth (11.07) and sixth (11.12) in the 100-meter dash. Matthew Ziegler was fifth in the 400-meter dash (49.67); plus, Matt Borneman and Derek Fahrenkrug were seventh (31:03.71) and ninth (31:08.94) in the 10,000-meter run. Matt Kocak was eighth in the 800-meter run (1:56.13).

The Pioneers' Ian Yenter was fifth in the decathlon with 5,719 points.