The UW-Eau Claire men’s and women’s track and field teams pulled in second place finishes Friday at the Warren Bowlus Invitational at UW-Stout.

The women racked up 84 points, while the men came in with 161.50 points. UW-La Crosse placed first in both meets, leaving the Blugolds trailing by only a few points.

The women placed in 14 events. A series of preliminaries and finals accompanied each event.

Freshman Kallie Krueger placed third in the 400-meter dash with a time of one minute,1.44 seconds. Krueger also ran the 55-meter dash, placing fifth in the preliminaries with a time of 7.73 seconds. She stayed consistent with her time in the finals of the race, placing fifth.

Sophmore Karin Diestelmeier ran a time of 2:27.36 seconds in the 800-meter run, taking second place. She placed first in the one-mile run with a finish of 5:14.97. Diestelmeier was satisfied with her performance.

“I was pretty tired after running the mile, but I am still very satisfied with my time in the 800,” Diestelmeier said. “I thought we did really well. We have a really strong team this year.”

Freshman Sarah Kasabian finished sixth in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:31.12. Sophomore Betsy Coy followed by running a time of 2:35.56. She placed 13th in the race.

Freshman Melissa Wright placed in the one-mile run with a time of 5:23.20. She placed fifth while freshman Heather Lipinski placed seventh with a time of 5:27.61.

The women also placed in two relay events. The Blugolds placed third in the 800-meter relay with a time of 1:50.16. They placed sixth in the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 4:24.08.

The ‘Golds ran the distance medley in 13:12.09, which was good enough for second place.

The men’s team took high places in various events. Sophmore Kevin Larson and juniors John Brumund-Smith and Rich Maleniak stole first, second, and third-place finishes in the 800-meter run.

The one-mile run featured sophomore James Larson as a first-place finisher. He ran the event in 4:18.94. Maleniak followed close behind with a time of 4:19.94. He placed second.

Sophmore David Hanson took second place in the preliminaries of the 55-meter dash, lagging only 0.2 seconds behind his opponent. Hanson improved 0.6 seconds in the finals, running a time of 6.53, which was enough to give him second place.

Freshman Chad Crutchley placed first in the 200-meter dash, running a time of 22.61. He was impressed with the sprinting events that took place at the meet.

“We have a very strong sprint crew,” Crutchley said. “We just need to stay consistent now.”

The women will face UW-River Falls at 4 p.m. Friday in River Falls. The men will participate in the Minnesota Intercolligeate Athletic Conference-WIAC Challenge at noon Saturday in Collegeville, Minn.