UW-Eau Claire’s distance medley relay team and junior Kathy Thompson posted first-place finishes for the Blugolds in the WIAC Indoor Track Championships Friday and Saturday.

As a team, the Blugolds finished in fourth place. UW-La Crosse finished first with 203 points, Oshkosh with 166.5 points for second, UW-Stevens Point took third with 115 points, which left Eau Claire and UW-Whitewater in a tie for fourth with 59 points each.

“We were shooting for a top three finish,” head coach Tracy Yengo said.

The distance medley relay team of sophomores Karin Diestelmeier and Sara Pavek and freshmen Melissa Wright and Kallie Krueger finished first with a time of 12 minutes, 19.98 seconds, which was some four seconds ahead of their closest competitors from UW-Oshkosh.

“Sara Pavek ran a really great 1,200 leg of the DMR,” Yengo said.

Thompson took the pentathlon with a score of 3,203 points. This score was 245 points ahead of the second-place finisher.

Thompson tied for fourth place for the Blugolds in the high jump with a jump of four feet, 11.75 inches. Last week she met the NCAA provisional height in the event. She also took fifth in the 55-meter high hurdles with a time of 9.08 seconds.

Thompson will go to Oshkosh to compete in the NCAA meet this weekend.

“We’re hoping for an All-American, top-six finish,” Yengo said.

The Blugolds finished fourth and fifth in the 1,500-meter run. Diestelmeier took fourth with a time of 4:50.38, while Pavek took fifth with a time of 4:53.88.

Diestelmeier also took seventh in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:50.78.

“All the runners ran so well,” Yengo said. “On Friday, 21 out of 28 events had personal bests. The amount of personal bests was just tremendous.”