Eau Claire finds success at three meets

The Blugold men’s and women’s track and field teams finished with three total event wins this weekend

Schade

Schade

Story by Austin Mai, Staff Writer

The UW-Eau Claire men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams took part in three meets this weekend.

They were spread across the Midwest in Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa. The meets ranged in different levels of competition, freshman CJ Schade said.

“Our strongest competitors went to the Drake Relays, including our relay team and our best thrower,” Schade said. “The Gina Relays were the big distance meet.”

In Iowa, a few Blugolds competed in the Drake Relays. For the women, their best finish was sixth in the 4×100-meter relay. Juniors Carly Fehler, Kayla Kelsey, Brooke Patterson and Megan Mulligan tied a school record of 47.11 seconds.

The men’s best finish was in the 4×400-meter relay. The group including senior Jacob Dennis-Oehling, juniors Thurgood Dennis and Cody Prince and freshman Jimmy Paske ran the top preliminary time, but officially finished third with a time of 3:11:47.

At the Gina Relays (Mich.), three Blugolds placed top five. Junior Lucy Ramquist took second in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:43:96. Junior Monica Emerson finished third in the same event at 4:45:07.

Senior Matt Scott took fifth place in the 1500-meter run with a time of 3:47:56, which broke the previous school record of 3:50:71.

At the Saint Mary’s Open, the Blugolds came away three wins and 22 top-five finishes.

Schade participated in throws on Saturday at the Saint Mary’s Open, but said the meet served as preparation.

“This was our last chance to qualify for the conference meet,” Schade said.

Junior Lindsey Laufenberg won two events as well, the 100- and 200-meter dashes with respective times of 12.88 and 26.15 seconds.

“I definitely wanted to run faster and raise my conference honor roll rankings,” Laufenberg said. “Before last weekend, I had only ran the 100-meter once this season so I wanted a chance to run that quicker.”

Last weekend’s 100-meter dash time is her best so far with Eau Claire.

In the high jump, freshman Sarah Glidden took first place with a distance of 1.61 meters.

Sophomore Alex Mess earned second place in the shot put with a throw of 14.66 meters.

Freshman Matt Dietlin took second in the high jump with a distance of 1.85 meters.

In the 400-meter dash, sophomore Will LaJeunesse placed second with a time of 49.68 seconds.

Laufenberg said one of the most important factors Saturday was running against the wind. She said strong winds help in preparation for unknown weather conditions.

She said she hopes to carry Saturday’s momentum into this weekend and claim new personal records. She is going to compete in the 100- and 200-meter dashes in the conference championship.