Pioneer track and field is back on home turf

Platteville, Wis. – It had been quite some time since the UW-Platteville Pioneers competed in an outdoor track and field meet. In fact, it had been over a year since the Pioneers had hosted a home track and field event. However, on Saturday, March 27, all that changed.

The Pioneers hosted the Platteville Early Bird Meet, competing against University of Dubuque, Loras College, and St. Scholastica. Along with the typical track and field events, student-athletes had some fun competing in the shuttle hurdle relay and mixed gender relays.

Pioneer Women

Gwen Orr took third place in the 100m dash, setting a personal record of 12.41 seconds. This time moves her to No. 2 on the Pioneer All-Time Top-Ten List. Orr won the 200m finishing with a time of 25.68 seconds. Casey Rielly won the 100m hurdles with a time of 16.05 seconds. Taking first and second place in the 400m hurdles, Katie Schilling ran 1:06.44 and Jessica Buss ran 1:07.64.

Kirstie Ramsey and Caitlin Gorge took first and second place respectively in the 1500m. Ramsey finished in 5:06.92 and Gorge followed to finish in 5:08.07. In the 5,000m run, sophomore Samantha Meyer won the event with a time of 19:22.99 and freshman Natalie Kreier closed in 19:36.31.

In the pole vault, junior Jordan Meciej won the event clearing 3.36m (11-0.25). Rielly took third clearing 3.21m (10-6.25), and freshman Autumn Montgomery in fourth with a 3.06m (10-0.5).

Freshmen Hannah Brooks and Alexis Healey jumped personal bests in the long jump, marking 5.05m (16-7) and 4.96m (16-3.25) respectively. In the triple jump, Kelli Schneider jumped a season opener of 10.46m (34-4).

Taking second place in the shot put and third in the discus, Brianna Leahy made her debut as a Pioneer in the throwing events. Leahy threw 13.18m (43-4) in the shot put and marked 38.67m (126-10) in the discus. These marks move Leahy to No. 4 in shot put and No. 6 in discus on the Pioneer All-Time Top-Ten List. Several Pioneer women throwers marked personal bests on the day, including Paulina Wienke, MJ Stephens, Lydia Helle, and Paige Taylor.

Pioneer Men

Cade VanHout, a sophomore competing at his first outdoor meet of his career, won both the 100m dash and 200m dash. Vanhout ran 11.06 seconds in the 100m dash and 22.15 seconds in the 200m dash, making his way on to the Pioneer All-Time Top-Ten List at No. 10 in the 200m.

In the 400m dash, Ryan Cherry clocked a personal best time of 52.77 seconds. In the 800m, Zach Flitsch won the event with a time of 2:02.94. Tyler Doering followed in second place with a time of 2:05.29.

Running a personal best in the 1500m, junior Jason Voelker cruised in at 4:14.29. Freshmen teammates Jeffrey Smolinski and Joey Madsen finished close behind Voelker, running 4:15.16 and 4:16.13 respectively. Caleb Christiansen took home first place in the 5,000m with a time of 15:38.24.

Cole Stugelmeyer won the 110m hurdles with a personal best time of 15.18 seconds. Jacob Rice also finished the race with a personal best time of 15.88 seconds. In the 400m hurdles, Sean Komro finished with a time of 57.61 and freshman Noah Nouansacksy ran 1:00.58.

During the 3,000m steeplechase, freshmen Riley Coulter and Davin Dahl ran 10:25.58 and 10:44.13 respectively. Junior Trevor Viren with a personal best time of 10:49.81. Dane Jankiewicz finished in 10:51.00.

Bryce Bierman continued to see high jump attempts at his personal best height of 2.02m. Bierman cleared 1.97m (6-5.5) to win the event. In the pole vault, freshman Isaac Nouansacksy won the event clearing 4.12m (13-6.25). Jacob Erickson took second place with a clearance of 3.97m (13-0.25). Erickson also threw the javelin, marking a personal best throw of 38.24m (125-5).

Adam Wildman and Jacob Rice finished in second and third place respectively in the long jump. Wildman marked 6.63m (21-9) and Rice marked a personal best jump of 6.53m (21-5.25). Freshman Weston Pink marked 13.76m (45-1.75) in the triple jump to win the event.

Returning to the Pioneer outdoor track and field roster a year after his senior season was canceled due to COVID-19, Alexander Walechka threw for second place in the discus, marking 45.08m (147-11). Walechka threw a personal best in the hammer throw, marking 51.47m (168-10). Teammate Justin Eichler also threw a personal best, taking third in the hammer throw with a toss of 48.43m (158-11). In the shot put, Ben Veverka threw 14.56m (47-9.25) to take third place.

As for the mixed gender relays, taking home the gold in the 4x100m relay of the Pioneer teams was the squad of Jenna Guddie, Kaitlyn Galgon, Cade VanHout, and Jacob Downing, running 46.44 seconds. The 4x400m relay team of Jessica Buss, Jason Voelker, Katie Schilling, and Tyler Doering ran 3:54.88.

What's Next

The Pioneer track and field team will be traveling to UW-Whitewater on Friday, April 2 for the Rex Foster Twilight. Field events will begin at 2:00pm and running events at 3:00pm.

Find more information at letsgopioneers.com