Pioneers Begin Competition at WIAC Track and Field Championships

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville women’s track and field team won a pair of events on the first day of the WIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Whitewater on Friday.

The Pioneers’ 4x800-meter relay team of Natalie Jozik, Jackie Cahill, Ann Tank and Deidre Dillman were victorious in a new UW-Whitewater facility record time of 9:20.07. Dillman and Tank also qualified for Saturday’s finals in the 800-meter run.

Plus, Danielle Kunkel won the 10,000-meter run in 37:56.72 to become just the second individual in program history from UW-Platteville to win the event. Also for the women, Keturah Vangen qualified for the finals in the 400-meter hurdles.

On the men’s side, Mark Niemann became the program's first javelin conference champion since Tim Jankowski in 2006. Niemann won the javelin with a throw of 185-10, over seven feet further than his closest competitor. Teammate Daniel Poh took sixth with a throw of 170-1.

The Pioneers also picked up team points when Chas Spangenberg and Jared Bradfish took third (15-7 ¼) and sixth (15-7 ¼) in the pole vault.

Aaron Hrubes and Lynn Oyawiri qualified for the finals in the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash. Also advancing into Saturday’s finals were T.J. Valley and Aaron Loferski, who qualified in the 110-meter hurdles.

Saturday’s events get underway with the men’s 110-meter hurdles in the decathlon at 10 a.m.