John Koenig

The men’s and women’s track and field teams will open their outdoor seasons, looking to transfer their indoor track and field success to the outdoor ring
of competition.

Women’s track and field
With the indoor track season left in the dust, UW-Eau Claire women’s track and field coach Tracy Yengo said the team will be looking to build off of a season that earned the Blugolds a No.-13 ranking in the country.

“We’re looking to carry some of that momentum into the outdoor track and field season,” Yengo said. “With the momentum of being ranked 13th in the country, and winning our first outdoor track meet against the team that won nationals last spring, we’ve started the ball rolling again.”

With 23 returning athletes, Yengo said a key strength for the team is all around balance in events. Included in the 23 players is 2005-2006 indoor and outdoor NCAA pole vault national champion junior Stephanie Barnes, and fellow team captain junior Bridget Bocher.

“Stephanie is tremendous at pole vault and senior Erin Kokta is a threat in the long, high and triple jump events,” Yengo said.

Other returners include senior Brooke Schmidt and junior Paula Crossfield in disc and hammer throw. Junior Liz Faller runs hurdles, Yengo said, and sophomore Molly Warner is a strong distance runner in the 5K.

“Looking at the conference results, we scored second out of eight in the 800 meter and up,” Yengo said. “We have some nice diversity and strength in all areas of the events.”

Yengo said the team is shooting for a finish in the top two spots in the conference for the outdoor season.

“Finishing in the top three is an attainable goal and a finish in the top 10 nationally would be a great accomplishment for us,” she said.

To reach these goals, Yengo said the team is constantly working to improve in all facets of its game.

“We want more people to qualify for the national meet and to be All-Americans,” she said. “To do this, getting healthy is an immediate goal because many key athletes are battling injuries.”

Men’s track and field
After an indoor season full of injuries, junior Nick Aliota said the Blugold men’s outdoor track and field season will be a good transition.

“We had a lot of guys hurt throughout the indoor season,” he said. “We have a lot more talent in the outdoor season and I think it’s a key to success. We’re a lot stronger outdoors than indoors.”

The Blugold men finished sixth in the conference last year, but Aliota said the team has not set a goal for placing at a specific spot in this year’s conference.

“The basic thing we want to accomplish is to score more points than we did all of last year,” he said. “Injuries were also a problem last year, but this year will definitely be an improvement.”

Aliota said the outlook is looking pretty good for the outdoor season. The team can always score and has a lot of young talent, he said.

“We’re looking good in throwing and sprints,” Aliota said. “Guys like freshman sprinter Chris Kupfer, senior distance runner Micah Hernandez and sophomore thrower Drew Bingner should do really well outdoors.”

Sophomore hurdles runner Brian Christ, freshmen sprinters Bryan Tschudy and Evan Koger will also make an impact in their respective events, Aliota said.

“As a team, we have captains who represent each event,” he said. “Looking at our current roster, I think we have a good chance to surpass our point total from last year, provided we stay healthy.”