Final meet turns second place finishes

UW-Stevens Point’s Last Chance Meet good precursor for national competition

Story by Cori Picard, Staff Writer

Blugold men’s and women’s indoor track and field team notched only one first place finish at the UW-Stevens Point Last Chance Meet Saturday.

Junior Cody Prince took home the win in the 400-meter dash with a time of 48.97 seconds, just squeezing past teammate Thurgood Dennis, who had a time of 49.03 seconds.

“It felt good, not that I was able to barely beat (Dennis), but that I ran a solid time because I haven’t been running the best for most of this indoor season,” Prince said.

Dennis said watching his teammate and friend cross the finish line with a great time was awesome.

“To see him run up there, he wears this headband with his flow, it’s outstanding,” Dennis said. “I can’t get over watching him run, he looks so smooth.”

Even though Prince’s time was the only first-place finish, a lot of Blugolds took home second-place spots.

Junior Roger Steen took second in the shot put with a throw of 17.38 meters, and junior Carly Fehler snagged second in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.86 seconds. Fehler said the highlight of the meet came from her teammates.

“Our women’s 4×4 qualified for nationals, we were right on the bubble sitting at 15, and the top 12 go to nationals,” Fehler said. “They ended up almost breaking the school record, and now they’re sitting fourth for nationals.”

The 4×400-meter relay team was made up by juniors Brooke Patterson, Steph Rouse, Megan Mulligan and sophomore Jessica Rupnow. They turned in a third-place finish with a season-best time of 3:53:04.

The team left for nationals at 5 p.m. Wednesday and Fehler said they are preparing for competition like they would any other week.

“Our training is light, we’re focused on making sure our bodies are fresh for this weekend,” Fehler said. The sprinter and jumper also said at the end of the day, it’s about having fun.

“We’re going out to Nebraska, and it’s a business trip, but at the same time, our team is focused on remembering that we love doing this and we love being a team,” she said.

Today will consist of practice for the Blugolds in preparation for competition at 10 a.m. Friday.

“The team is very excited to compete at nationals and everyone seems to be focused,” Prince said.  “We just need to take care of
business.”