STEVENS POINT, Wis. – For the 17th consecutive season, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men’s track and field team won the WIAC indoor championship.
Not to be outdone, the UW-L women’s track team also won conference. It was their sixth consecutive title.
MEN
The Eagles finished with 157.5 points UW-Whitewater was second at 105.0.
The win is UW-L’s league-record 43rd conference title in school history. Coach Josh Buchholtz has now won the WIAC indoor title in each of his first 10 seasons. He’ll be going for his 10th consecutive outdoor crown come spring.
Two Eagles won individual championships Saturday, including Michael Austin Bates (60-meter hurdles – 8.13 seconds) and Andrew Jarrett (weight throw – 63-10.5).
Bates win is the first in school history in the event, which started in 2012. Marcus Walgrave won the 55-hurdles in 2006.
Along with Bates winning the hurdles, teammate Jim Hoesley was fourth (8.35) in the event.
UW-L had four of the top-seven finishers in the weight throw, including Nathan Berg third (59-8.25), Christian Morzinski fifth (55-8.5) and Justin Donkin seventh (54-7.5).
UW-L’s Ernest Winters had a pair of second-place finishes in the 60 (6.87) and 200 (22.10). Teammate Josh Koenecke was sixth (7.07) in the 60.
Other top UW-L finishers included Brian Hansford fifth (1:56.34) in the 800 and Austin Zajkowski sixth (8:42.18) in the 3,000.
The Eagles took third (3:21.69) in the 1,600 relay of Seth Holden, Charlie Handrick, Max Goulet and Will Seeser.
In the high jump Saturday, the Eagles’ Brendan Deiss was second (6-8.75) and Matt Haynes sixth (6-4.75) in the high jump, while Jacob Teunas was fifth (45-6.25) in the triple jump.
And UWL’s Noah Meeteer finished fourth (4,676 points) in the heptathlon.
WOMEN
The Eagles finished with 201.5 team points, while UW-Eau Claire was second with 153.5.
It’s a league-record 26th title in school history for UW-L and first for new coach Nickolas Davis, who served as an assistant track & field coach at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) the past four years.
Make it 6 in a row! Congrats Eagles! #WIACchampions pic.twitter.com/0mCr5USZzK
— UWL Womens Track (@UWL_WomensTrack) February 25, 2018
The Eagles won a pair of individual titles Saturday, including Amanda Wiebke in the pentathlon (3,331 points) and Sadie Kroll in the 3,000 (10:01.32).
UW-L had five of the top-six finishers in the pentathlon Saturday, including Caycee Bean was second (3,193 points), Sarah Gilles fourth (3,108), Ariel Malvitz fifth (3,044) and Kemmesha Thomas sixth (3,013).
In the 3,000-meter run, Libby Brugger was sixth (10:23.57) and Sarah Ziolkowski ninth (10:31.19).
Other top finishes for UW-L included Erin Zajc second (9.15), Isabelle Kick sixth (9.27) and Clair Shepardson eighth (9.42) in the 60, while Savannah Rygiewicz finished third (7.76) and Brittany Jaeger eighth (7.96) in the 60 hurdles. Rygiewicz was also fourth (25.69) in the 200.
Abbey Engel finished second (2:18.05) in the 800 as the Eagles placed five in the Top 10. Kacy Fisher was fourth (2:18.62), Rachel Atchison seventh (2:20.89), Valerie Jones ninth (2:21.46) and Emma Platzbecker 10th (2:21.80).
UWL’s 1,600 relay of Tess Miller, Ashley Holubets, Candice Zehner and Sophie Klein placed fourth (4:02.20).
In Saturday’s field events, the Eagles had seven of the top-eight finishers in the triple jump alone. Betsy Schreier was second (38-3.25), Beth Harlos third (38-1.5), Maddie Nelson fourth (37-9.5), Marissa Wustrack fifth (37-6.75), Miller sixth (37-5.25) and Crystal Hill eighth (36-8.5).
Brianna Schyvinck finished third (52-5.25) and Kara Gilmeister fourth (52-1.75) in the weight throw.
The Eagles men and women return to action at 3 p.m. Friday at the UW-Platteville final qualifier.