This past weekend, the University of Wisconsin Men’s and Women’s Track & Field teams both collected Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Outdoor Championship titles. The Men’s team won their 58th WIAC title, and the Women’s team won their 38th WIAC title.
The Eagles Track & Field program has continually found success in the WIAC, with a combined 96 outdoor titles. For the women, the next closest competitor is UW-Oshkosh with 11 team outdoor titles.
As for the men, the next closest team is UW-Oshkosh with seven outdoor team titles, without counting UW-Milwaukee, whose 34 outdoor team titles remain in “second place”. The Panthers left the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III and the WIAC for the NCAA Division 1 conference in the Horizon League in 1964.
This year’s WIAC Outdoor Track & Field championships were held on the campus of UW-Platteville. The men finished the meet with a total of 236 points and the women scored 316.50 points. The Eagles flew by the competition, taking advantage of scoring performances on Friday to set the tone for the rest of the weekend.
For events on the track, the Eagles showed prowess in sprints, with Sam Blaskowski and Lauren Jarrett both adding another 100-meter title to their resumes. Blaskowski’s 100m time of 10.04 seconds was an all-time NCAA DIII best, and one of Blaskowski’s fastest times of the season. The Eagles were just as successful in the men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay races, winning both. The Eagles found further success in the open 400m dash, 100m and 110m hurdles, and 400m hurdles.
In the finals of the open 400m dash, the men dominated the field with six of nine total competitors, including the top four finishers. Chase Doornink was 0.14s away from having a back-to-back title but was beaten by another Eagle, Collin Conzemius. Caden Pearce, the anchor for the Eagles 4x400m relay, placed third and Addison Hill placed fourth.
The women also had a strong showing in the 400m dash, having five out of nine total competitors in the final. Morgan Jennings and Amber Johnson placed second and third respectfully for the Eagles, with Anna Plautz, Sarah Grubbs, and Maddie Hecker placing fifth, sixth, and seventh respectfully.
In the 100m hurdles, Hannah Holm placed second and Brie Eckerman placed fifth. In the 110m hurdles, Luke Schroeder took first place, followed by Lukas Johnson in fifth and Chad Thompson Jr. in seventh place.
In the 400m hurdles, Dirk Lueck placed first and set a facility record of 52.86s. Payton Flood also scored points for the Eagles, placing sixth.
The Eagles capped off day one of the WIAC meet with second and third place finishes in the men’s 10k from Corey Fairchild and Isaac Wegner, respectfully. The women also had another second-place finish in the 10k from Madelynn McIntyre. The 10k wasn’t the only distance race that went well for the Eagles.
In the 5k, Joey Sullivan came in first, and Mason Brown came in sixth. On the women’s side, McIntyre finished third and Brooklyn Luebke finished sixth. The Eagles also excelled in the 3k steeplechase, where Adam Loenser and Brown placed second and third. Katelyn Chadwick won the race for the women and Maddy Vantassel placed fifth.
The Eagles had several athletes qualify for finals in the 800m run, including back-to-back WIAC 800m champion Cael Schoemann. Michael Madoch returned from an injury to place fifth. Parker Heintz placed seventh for the Eagles, and first-year Owen Klaus also made a strong showing.
When it comes to dominance, the women’s 800m final was no different for the Eagles. Maddie Hannan placed first for the Eagles, and was accompanied by teammates Gwen Hintz in fifth and Greta Koehler in sixth.
In the 200m dash, Jarrett claimed another WIAC title. Jarrett was accompanied on the podium by Anika Reiland in third and Makenna Zak in fourth.
76 of the men’s team’s total points came from field events. In the javelin throw, Nate Lawrence placed eighth, scoring one point. For triple jump, the Eagles had William Cady place second, Carter Pearson place fifth, and Nick Crary place sixth.
In the Long Jump, Sebastian Jefferson placed third, Andrew Hermes placed fourth, Pearson placed fifth, Crary placed sixth, and Triton Schmidt placed eighth.
The Eagles jumps concludes with success in the pole vault. Andrew Tumminaro placed first and was joined on the podium by Ashton Moody in second, and Gaven Lange in fourth.
For the Eagles throwers, Aiden Williams placed third in the hammer throw alongside Logan Powers in fifth and Douglas Grace in sixth. For the shotput, Ben Youngworth placed fifth, and Ethan Welch placed eighth.
The women scored 89.5 of the team’s total points in the field events. In the hammer throw, Izzy Carroll placed fourth and Madilyn Vander Sanden placed eighth. In the Javelin throw, Gabby Johnson placed second, Noelle Hackenmueller placed third, and Amber Grosse placed fifth.
For the jumping events, Maya Evans won the long jump and Samantha Barrett won the triple jump. Also scoring points in the long jump were Ava Foley in fifth and Ashley Davies in sixth. Barrett’s triple jump win came off a jump which set a facility record of 12.32m.
Barrett was joined on the podium by a group of Eagles, with Evans placing second, Miah Keller placing third, Mackenzey Kronberg in fourth, and Carly Schreurs in fifth.
The pole vault concluded the jumping events with Maddy Habberstad placing second, Emily Shafron placed third, Izzy Keck and Marisa Harvey tied for seventh, scoring 0.75 points each.
Lastly for the multis, in the decathlon, Joseph Jensen placed ninth and Bryant Yanke placed tenth. For the heptathlon, Grosse placed first, Alexys Scheuerell placed fifth, Hackenmueller placed seventh, and Audrey Braun placed ninth.
The Eagles next take on the Eagle Open on May 10, and the Augustana College Qualifier on May 16. These will be the last two meets for the Eagles to qualify for the NCAA National Meet in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on May 23 – 25. More information including the official results of the WIAC championships can be found on the WIAC website. For any inquiries regarding the NCAA National meet, visit the NCAA website for more information.
