Track & Field Teams Primed for WIAC Indoor Championships
STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The UW-Platteville men' and women's track and field teams will have their work cutout for them at the 2013 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Indoor Championships on Friday and Saturday at UW-Stevens Point.
STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville men' and women's track and field teams will have their work cutout for them at the 2013 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Indoor Championships on Friday and Saturday at UW-Stevens Point.
On the men side, there are six teams ranked in the top-12 by the U.S. Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA), including the 12th-ranked Pioneers. The WIAC sweeps the top three spots with UW-La Crosse ranked first followed by UW-Oshkosh then UW-Whitewater ranked third. UW-Stevens Point sits eighth while UW-Eau Claire ranks ninth.
The Pioneers are in position to get several points in the 60-meter hurdles with junior T.J. Valley ranking second and senior Aaron Loferski sits fourth in the conference. Valley is also second on the national qualifier list with a time of 8.08, while Loferski is currently ninth with an 8.26 mark.
Senior sprinter Aaron Hrubes will be looking to earn all-conference honors in the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash. He ranks third in the WIAC in the 60-meter and is tied with Jordan Olp for second in the 200-meter.
In the distance events the Pioneers are hopeful that freshman Ian LaMere and Sam Poser will be scorers. LaMere is third in the WIAC in the 5,000-meter run with at time of 14:41.42 and Poser is six with a time of 14:52.41.
Senior Chas Spangenberg ranks second in the WIAC and fourth in the nation in the pole vault and is looking to improve his school record vault of 4.93m and claim his first WIAC title. Ace McCarty is peaking at the right time of the year and cleared a season-best 2.02m in the high jump last weekend at the Cardinal Classic.
On the women's side, senior Deidre Dillman will be looking to beat two-time 800-meter WIAC champion Christy Cazzola from UW-Oshkosh. Dillman ran a season-best 2:12.24 at the UW-Platteville Invitational and puts her second in the conference and fifth in the nation. Sophomore Caitlin Thomson cleared a career-best 1.67m in the high jump last month and ranks second in the conference and is just a few inches from getting on the national qualifier list.
The Pioneers will send its top performers to either Wisconsin Last Chance Meet or UW-Stevens Point Last Chance Meet next weekend to qualify or improver their qualifying mark for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 8.