Results
Menomonie, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's track & field team captured the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship (presented by Culver's) Saturday at UW-Stout's Johnson Fieldhouse. The Eagles totaled 220.0 points to win their 20th league crown in the last 21 seasons. UWL has now won a league record 46 titles (1969-70, 1972, 1975-77, 1979-88, 1990-98, 2000, 2002-20, 2023) in school history.
UW-Oshkosh placed second on Saturday with 141.33 points and UW-Whitewater third with 80.33. UW-Eau Claire was fourth (68.33) followed by UW-Stout (66.0), UW-Platteville (47.0), UW-Stevens Point (20.0) and UW-River Falls (11.0).
UWL won three individual titles on Saturday, including a pair from
Sam Blaskowski. He captured the 60 (6.65) and 200-meter dash (21.29) crowns. It is Blaskowski's second straight crown in the 200-meter dash. He set a conference record with his winning time in the 200-meter dash, breaking UWL's Andrew Rock's record of 21.34 in 2003. Blaskowski set a school record in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.13 earlier this season. He is the first sprinter in the WIAC to win the 60 and 200-meter dash since Parker Witt accomplished the feat in 2017.
Luke Schroeder captured the 60-meter hurdles crown (8.16) on Saturday. It marks UWL's second straight league title in the 60-meter hurdles after
Carson Reilly took the crown last season.
The Eagles won the 4x400-meter relay on Saturday with
Tyler Backes,
Caden Pearce,
Dirk Lueck and
Luke Vance. It is UWL's first relay crown since 2017.
Other top individual finishes on the track included
Ryder Smith fifth (6.89) and
Spencer Reichart seventh (6.95) in the 60-meter dash on Saturday.
UWL had five of the top-eight finishers in the 200-meter dash. Along with Blaskowski taking the title, Schroeder was second (22.08), Reichart fifth (22.21), Pearce seventh (22.33) and Smith eighth (22.35). Vance finished 11th (22.52), Ashton Kummet 14th (22.69) and
Carter Kummet 17th (22.91).
In the 800-meter run on Saturday,
Cael Schoemann led UWL with a second-place finish (1:53.57) with Lueck sixth (1:54.38) and
Michael Madoch 10th (1:57.54).
Parker Heintz placed 11th (1:57.96),
Jayden Zywicki 12th (1:58.15),
Thomas Blumer 24th (2:00.65) and
Elias Ritzke 25th (2:00.97).
UWL had seven finishes in the top-15 in the 3,000-meter run, led by
Aidan Matthai placing second (8:20.14),
Ethan Gregg third (8:25.64) and
Adam Loenser fourth (8:27.75).
Christopher Wolfe was ninth (8:37.61),
Logan Bell 11th (8:40.23),
Ben Stangel 12th (8:44.39) and
Zach Slevin 15th (8:46.71).
Nolan Seaberg finished second in the heptathlon with 4,816 points. The Eagles'
Bryant Yanke was fourth (4,677),
Joseph Jensen sixth (4,523) and
Ben Jones 17th (3,240). The competition concluded on Saturday with the 60-meter hurdles, pole vault and 1,000-meter run. The heptathlon included the 60-meter dash, long jump, shot put and high jump on Friday.
Other top finishes in the field events included
Nathan Andringa fourth (6-6 1/4) in the high jump while
William Cady was fourth (47- 1/2) in the triple jump and
Aiden Williams fifth (54-10 1/4) in the weight throw.
Chase Roehl placed sixth (46-7 1/2),
Nick Crary seventh (46-3 1/2) and
Brody Kluge ninth (45-7 3/4) in the triple jump for the Eagles.
Logan Powers placed 10th (51-1 3/4) in the weight throw with teammates
Spencer Prats 14th (50-0) and
Douglas Grace 16th (49-11 1/4).
UWL returns to action Friday, March 3 at the Wartburg College (Iowa) Qualifier at 1:30 p.m.
