The last weekend in February was nothing but successful for both Men and Women’s Track and Field. The teams competed in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Indoor Championships. Both teams swept away the competition, claiming championship titles. The men claimed their 40th title, with this one being the 14th consecutive title. The women claimed their 23rd title, with this being the third year in a row.
The men’s team put a 24 point gap between themselves and second place UW-Eau Claire. They captured their win with 161 team points. The women put a large 87 point gap between the second place team, UW-Oshkosh. They solidified their win with 207 points.
This week’s athlete spotlight is focused on junior Claire Gordee. She is an English education major and minor in special education. Gordee made her collegiate appearance, beginning in the 2012-2013 indoor season, taking fifth place in the WIAC pentathlon. In 2014, she had earned All-America honors when she was on the third place distance medley relay team, which set a school record of 11:50.13 at the NCAA III Championships.
The 2014 outdoor season proved to be successful for Gordee. She was a member of the first place 4×400 meter relay at the NCAA III Championships, setting another school record of 3:43.52. At the same meet, she earned All-America honors with her sixth place finish in the 100 meter hurdles. In the same season, she was a member of the relay team to capture the 4×400 meter relay at the WIAC conference, also individually taking fourth in the heptathlon.
Going into this new indoor season, Gordee maintained high standards for herself and the team. But, some of her accomplishments were not even in mind entering the race.
“The biggest goal I had in mind was to win the WIAC Conference as a team,” said Gordee. “I wanted to try to contribute as many points as I could to reach that goal. I didn’t even know that the Conference record was in reach! It was definitely an exciting surprise after I finished the hurdle finals.”
Although she accomplished these goals as an individual, track is still a team sport. These women all work together for months on end to each perform individually to benefit the team as a whole.
“Being on the women’s track and field team is like having a bunch of sisters that you are always guaranteed to laugh and have a good time with. We have such a great family feel within our team and going to practice each day is definitely something we look forward to,” Gordee explained.
As the indoor season comes to a close, outdoor season comes with new challenges and goals for the athletes to pursue. Gordee’s standards are still set high.
“Transitioning to the outdoor season, we double the amount of hurdles in the race going from 60 meter hurdles to 100 meter hurdles,” she said. “It’s an exciting change and I think we are all itching to get outdoors and see what the season brings!”