Pioneer track and field team compete on the road at Ripon College

Ripon, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin – Platteville men's and women's track and field teams competed at the Red Hawk Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 8. Rounding off the third week of the indoor season, several Pioneers continued to see improvements in their performances.

Teams in attendance included Ripon College, Edgewood College, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Wisconsin Lutheran, St. Norbert, Marian College, Concordia Wisconsin, Lawrence College, Beloit College, and Lake Forest College.

Hurdles and Sprints

Highlighting the men's hurdles and sprinting events were Charlie Gifford and Zach Frei. Gifford won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.27 seconds. Frei won the 200-meter dash in  22.72 seconds, establishing a new indoor personal best time. Jacob Downing finished in second place in the 200m in 23.11 seconds.

In the finals of the 60-meter dash, senior Matt Hokanson took third place with a personal best time of 7.23 seconds. Hokanson also ran in the 60m hurdle finals, taking fourth place with 8.61 seconds. Senior Ryan Swanson finished in fifth in the 60m dash with a time of 7.36 seconds. Sophomore John Huntley ran for second place in the 400-meter with a season best time of 52.91 seconds.

For the Pioneer women in the hurdles and sprinting events, several personal best times were seen. Running an indoor personal best time in the 400m, sophomore Jessica Buss ran 1:03.30. Haley Ott ran a personal best time of 8.18 seconds in the 60m dash finals. In the 200m dash, Katie Schilling ran 27.52 for seventh place and Katheryn Holter ran 27.60 seconds coming in ninth place, both indoor personal bests. In the women's 60m hurdles, Casey Rielly finished in fourth place with a time of 9.93 seconds.

Distance

In the men's 800-meter run Ben Trihey placed second with 1:58.40 and Jason Voelker placed fourth with 2:00.30, both performances were indoor personal best times. In the women's 800m, senior Johanna Meister finished in second place with 2:23.56 and Caitlyn Ifft ran in fourth place with a time of 2:26.29.

Ben Claas took fifth place in the men's mile with a personal best time of 4:40.69. Kirstie Ramsey finished in sixth place in the women's mile with a personal best time as well. Ramsey finished in 5:43.45.

Two more personal best times were seen in the men's 3,000-meter race. Freshman Caleb Christiansen took seventh with a personal best time of 9:33.37. Troy Humpal placed ninth with a personal best time of 9:48.52. In the women's 5,000-meter run, a massive personal best time was dropped by junior Brenna Kautz. Kautz broke the 20-minute barrier for the first time, and finished the race in 19:34.70.

Jumps

High jump was won by senior Noah Steiner. He jumped 2.01m (6-7). Sophomore Bryce Bierman leaped to a new personal best mark of 1.96m (6-5) to tie for second place. In the pole vault, senior Alex Wright won the event with a new personal best mark of 4.24m (13-11). Junior Jordan Monroe tied for second place in the pole vault with a vault of 4.09m (13-5). In the women's pole vault, Jordan Meciej cleared nearly a personal best, coming in just short at 3.34m (10-11.5).

In long jump, Adam Wildman soared to a new personal best jump of 6.58m (21-7.25) good for second place. Teammates Owen Miller and Drew Stanioch finished with jumps of 6.17m (20-3) and 6.09m (19-11.75) respectively. Sophomore Damani White won the triple jump marking a jump of 13.34m (43-9.25). In the women's long jump Mackenzie Barnes jumped a personal best mark of 4.33m (14-2.5), as did freshman Kelli Schneider in the triple jump. Schneider jumped 10.43m (34-2.75).

Throws

A select group of throwers from the University of Wisconsin – Madison Badgers competed in the shot and weight throw, adding to the level of competition among the field. The Pioneer men dominated the shot put. Cole Eastlick won the event with a throw of 14.70m (48-2.75). Tyler Bacon, Justin Eichler, and Alexander Walechka took over second through fourth place. In the women's shot put, Rachel Beuthin took second place with a throw of 13.20m (43-3.75), a season best. Brianna Hall finished in third with 12.77m (41-10.75).

In the men's weight throw, Walechka took fifth with a throw of 16.84m (55-3) and Eastlick finished in seventh with 16.31m (53-6.25), a personal best throw. Eichler also had a personal best throw in the weight throw of 14.23m (46-8.25) good for tenth place. Among the women in the weight throw, Beuthin was third with 14.45m (47-5). Murphy Bleymeyer, Hall, and Paige Taylor all finished among the top seven in the women's weight throw event.

Relays

The women's 4 x 400-meter relay team comprised of Buss, Ott, Meister, and Schilling ran steadily throughout the race to finish in first with a season best time of 4:10.07. The men's 4 x 400m relay of Braden Meyers, Colton Johnson, Devon Hermes, and William Carlson took second place with a time of 3:33.93.

Next week, the Pioneers will host the UW-Platteville Invitational on Saturday, Feb. 15 in Williams Fieldhouse.