On a day more fit for ice hockey, the men’s track team kicked off its outdoor campaign at the UW-Stout Invite Saturday at Simpson Field.

Heavy snowfall early on in the meet and a high temperature of only 38 degrees made for an unusual track meet.

“I’d never seen anything quite like that,” head coach Scott Steuernagel said of all the snow.

But after coaches and athletes shoveled the snow off the track, the meet was ready to go.

No team scores were kept, but the Blugolds garnered eight first-place finishes on their way to a strong showing.

Steuernagel said most athletes didn’t perform as well as they could have because of the bad weather, but he was pleased with what the team could do.

“I think it was a really solid performance,” he said. “The team performed overall as well as they could have with the weather conditions.”

Sophomore Bob Schmidt was victorious in the shot put. His throw of 47 feet, 4 1/2 inches was 3 1/2 inches better than the second-place finisher from Northwestern College (Minn.). Sophomore Travis Mast followed, taking a fourth in the event with a throw of 41 feet, 10 inches.

Junior Jeff Bergstrom started off the outdoor season on the right foot, winning the triple jump with a leap of 44 feet. Sophomore Sean Corse finished second in the event with a jump of 42 feet, 5 1/2 inches.

Junior Scott Whirry, a former All-American who redshirted the indoor season, out-jumped his closest opponent in the long jump by 2 1/2 feet.

His jump of 22 feet, 9 3/4 inches was 4 1/4 inches away from the NCAA provisional qualifying mark.

Sophomore Glen Rogers took second place for the Blugolds in the hammer throw.

In the javelin throw, the Blugolds took third and fourth places. Junior Jake Vande Hey took third with a throw of 150 feet, four inches. Sophomore

Andy Steuernagel placed sixth with his 146 foot, three-inch effort.

The biggest event for the Blugolds was the 1,500-meter run. Eau Claire took four of the top six places in the event. Sophomore Sean Gavigan, freshman Matt Glover and junior Kevin Larson placed first through third respectively. Freshman Trent Thielke took sixth place for the Blugolds.

Sophomore David Hanson picked up a win in the 100-meter dash in 11.1 seconds – .2 seconds better than the second place finisher from UW-Stout. Hanson also tied for first place in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.6 seconds.

The Blugolds’ 4×100 relay team also cruised to victory. Its time of 43.34 seconds was well ahead of Martin Luther College’s (Minn.) second-place effort of 45.79 seconds.
Senior Mike Mascitti’s time of 50.6 seconds won the 400-meter dash by a comfortable margin. Steuernagel said that is the fastest Mascitti has started a season.
Also placing for Eau Claire in the 400 was freshman Tony Donatell, who took fourth place with a time of 51.90 seconds.

In the 3,000-meter run, junior Rich Maleniak easily outran his opponents. Maleniak said he was confident he would win the race.

“I expected to win it,” he said. “I didn’t run nearly as fast as I wanted to. I knew going into it, it would be more of a workout run.”

Steuernagel said the outdoor team will be comparable to the indoor team that placed fourth at the WIAC
Championships, but his goal is to have the team finish in the top three at the conference meet.

On Saturday, the Blugolds will travel to St. Paul, Minn. for the St. Thomas Invite.