2021 WIAC Outdoor Track & Field Championship Website
La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's track and field team will strive for its 30th consecutive title at the 2021 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Outdoor Championship (presented by Culver's) at UW-River Falls' David A. Smith Stadium at Ramer Field. The 102nd edition of the league meet is scheduled to start Friday, May 7 and run through Saturday, May 8 in unison with the 49th gathering of the women's teams.
This year's men's championships starts Friday at 1 p.m. and continues Saturday starting at 9:30 a.m.
UW-La Crosse enters the meet ranked second in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Poll distributed by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) May 4. UW-Oshkosh is ranked fourth, UW-Eau Claire sixth, UW-Stout seventh, UW-Whitewater 10th, UW-Stevens Point 16th and UW-Platteville 22nd.
This year's championship features 12 student-athletes that have combined to win six individual and eight relay first-place medals at previous league meets.
The Eagles collected the 55th first-place trophy in program history in 2019 with 184.00 points. UW-Oshkosh placed second with 138.00 points followed by UW-Eau Claire third with 114.00. UW-Whitewater finished fourth with 104.50 points followed by UW-Platteville with 94.50, UW-Stevens Point with 94.00, UW-Stout with 88.00 and UW-River Falls with 2.00.
UW-La Crosse (1916-18, 1954, 1956-58, 1962, 1969-72, 1974-76, 1978-89, 1991-2019) has won a league record 55 titles including the last 29. UW-Milwaukee (1915, 1919, 1921-24, 1928-42, 1947-53, 1955, 1959-61, 1963-64) captured 34 championships. UW-Oshkosh (1927, 1966-68, 1971, 1990) has won six league crowns, UW-Stevens Point (1920, 1973-74, 1977) and UW-Whitewater (1925-26, 1965-66) four and UW-Stout (1972) one.
Josh Buchholtz is in his 14th season as UW-La Crosse's head coach. The Eagles have won 11 straight WIAC outdoor championships under Buchholtz while being named the league's coach of the year in 10 seasons (2009-18). UW-La Crosse has won 12 straight indoor conference titles under Buchholtz. He has been named the WIAC Indoor Coach of the Year eight times (2009, 2011-16, 2018). UW-La Crosse earned the 2019 and 2020 WIAC Indoor and 2019 Outdoor Coaching Staff of the Year Award. Buchholtz has led UW-La Crosse to eight national titles, including four indoor (2009, 2013, 2014, 2017) and four outdoor (2013, 2015, 2016, 2017).
UW-La Crosse has two returning individual conference champions from 2019 in
Charlie Handrick (400-meter hurdles) and
Samuel Sadowski (long jump). The Eagles'
Josh Koenecke was a member of the winning 4x100-meter relay in 2018.
Other top-eight finishers on the track from 2019 returning include
Seth Holden placing third in the 100 and 200-meter dash while
Troy DeBruin was fifth in the 100 and sixth in the 200.
Jake Sullivan finished fifth in the 400-meter dash while
Brian Hansford placed sixth in the 800-meter run.
Dillon Murman placed fifth in the 110-meter hurdles in 2019. DeBruin and
Justin Kotarak were members of the Eagles' second-place 4x100-meter relay while Handrick and Sullivan were on UW-La Crosse's second-place 4x400-meter relay.
In the field events in 2019,
Cameron Sorenson finished fourth in the long jump with
Tommy Knoche eighth in the pole vault and
Alec Morrison eighth in the javelin throw. UW-La Crosse's
Ben Jones placed seventh in the decathlon.
The NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships are scheduled for Thursday, May 27 through Saturday, May 29 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
