Sophomore Sean Gavigan broke his own school record Friday in the 800-meter run at the UW-Stout Pentagular.

The meet included teams representing UW-Platteville, UW-La Crosse and University of St. Thomas (Minn.).

Gavigan took first place in the event with a time of 1 minute, 53.70 seconds. The time was good enough to provisionally qualify him for the NCAA championships and ranks him second in the nation.

Gavigan was just one of several Blugold runners to put forth a solid effort.

Sophomore Nick Hardt also claimed a first place in the 5,000-meter run. Hardt ran a 15:36.64 which just beat out teammate sophomore Mark Meunier, who ran a 15:37.56.

“Nick (Hardt) has really put in his share of hard work,” coach Scott Steuernagel said. “It was really exciting for him in (the 5,000-meter) because that was the first race he had ever won.”

Freshmen Chad and Chris Crutchley teamed up with sophomore David Hanson and sophomore Graham Phillips to make up the 4×200 relay team. The team finished first with its season-best time of 1:30.23.

“Our 4×200 team has been working hard this week,” Chad Crutchley said.

Chad Crutchley said this weekend’s race will be tight and La Crosse and Whitewater have strong teams.

“It’s going to come down to the sticks,” he said.

Chad Crutchley finished with his best time of the season in the 55-meter dash, running a 6.50. He finished second in the event.

“My focus right now in the 55 is to shave off a couple of tenths,” Chad Crutchley said. “I just want to improve my time this weekend and hopefully qualify for nationals.”

Although suffering his first loss of the season, junior Jeff Bergstrom set another national qualifying time in the triple jump. Bergstrom jumped 46 feet, 2 inches, which gave him second place.

“No team scores were kept at the meet, but we ran okay,” Bergstrom said. “We were all going hard, but we didn’t have all our top guys running.”

“We are definitely looking forward to the conference meet.”

Sophomore Bob Schmidt finished third in the shot put.

Schmidt placed third in the event throwing 50 feet, 1 and 3/4 inches. It was the first time he threw over 50 feet this year indoors.

“I still have a lot of work to do,” said Schmidt, who added he’s anticipating a better throw this weekend at the conference meet. “We’ll see how well I can put things together.”

Junior John Brumund-Smith ran a 1:56.67 in the 800-meter run to finish fourth.

“We’re going to shoot for fourth at the conference meet,” Brumund-Smith said. “We just want to put as many people on the medal stand as we can.”

Junior Benton Ward vaulted 14 feet, 4 and 1/4 inches in the pole vault. Ward finished in sixth place but is looking forward to doing well this weekend.

“We’re pretty pumped,” Ward said. “This year’s team is a lot better than those in the past.”

Ward said he wasn’t top-notch Friday, but is hoping to pick it up a notch this weekend.

“We’re going to have to give it everything we have.”