Multiple All-American Honors Earned at NCAA Indoor Nationals
The UW-Platteville Track and Field teams competed at the NCAA Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday.
The UW-Platteville Track and Field teams competed at the NCAA Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday.
Amber Williams earned the Pioneer's first All-American honors with a third place finish in the long jump. Williams came in with the fourth best mark of the season and improved on her standing with a school record 5.91 (19-4.75) jump. This was her fourth All-American honor in the indoor event. She also competed in the 60m hurdles but did not advance with a time of 9.01.
Dwyer was next to earn All-American honors and did so in the pole vault. Dwyer cleared 4.90m (16-0.75) on his second attempt to tie for seventh place.
Megan Marotz national debut in the pentathlon resulted in her first school record and All-American honors. Marotz headed into the 800m, the pentathlon's final event, in 11th place. She won the event in 2:22.30 to move into sixth place and finish with a total of 3351 points, breaking the school record by 3 points.
Williams began Saturday's competition with second place finish in the triple jump. She jumped a season best mark of 12.35 (40-2.5) while the champion, Alexa Wandy, broke the championship record with a 12.64m (41-5.75) jump.
Jacob Hirsbrunner finished the Heptathlon winning the final event of the two-day discipline. Hirsbrunner crossed the finish in 2:36.98 to move into ninth place overall with 4832 points.
Rachel Beuthin made her first national appearance competing in the shot put with a 17th place finish. Her best throw came in the second round at 12.84m (42-1.5).
Kyle Whaley broke through on his third throw of the shot put to move into the top-8 and earn his first All-American honor. Whaley threw his best mark of 16.35m (53-7.75) in the fourth round to finish eighth overall. Whaley came into the meet with the No. 14 seed.
Competition ended with the men's 4x400m relay earning All-American status. The foursome of Alec Burcham, Tonie Johnson, Greg Stribling, and Wyatt Thompsons qualified for Saturday's final running 3:19.70 during Friday's Prelim. They improved on that time to finish sixth overall in a season best time of 3:18.64.
The women's team finished 10th overall with 17 points, the highest placing WIAC team. Washington University won the team title with 44 points.
The men's team ended with 5.5 points finishing in 41st place. Host North Central College and UW-La Crosse tied for the team title with 34 points. UW-Whitewater finished third with 30 points and UW-Stevens Point fourth with 27 points.