Results
La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's track & field team won the Phil Esten Challenge Saturday night at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex. The Eagles finished with 166.0 team points while Michigan Tech University was second with 126.0 and UW-Stout third with 91.0. A total of 19 teams scored points.
UWL's
Joseph Jensen placed fourth (5,892 points),
Nolan Seaberg fifth (5,795) and
Bryant Yanke 13th (5,259) in the decathlon on Saturday. The decathlon concluded Saturday with the 110-meter hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw and 1,500-meter run. Competition included the 100-meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400-meter dash on Friday.
The Eagles won four events on Saturday, including three on the track.
Spencer Reichart took the 100-meter dash (10.73) and
Chase Doornink the 400-meter dash (48.90) while
Ryder Smith,
Sam Blaskowski, Reichart and
Luke Schroeder won the 4x100-meter relay (40.29).
In the field events,
William Cady won the triple jump (46-5 1/4).
Other top-six finishes on the track included Smith second (21.83) in the 200-meter dash,
Payton Flood second (55.42) and
Dirk Lueck third (55.64) in the 400-meter hurdles and
Tyler Backes third (49.64) and Jacob Hohman fourth (50.77) in the 400-meter dash.
Ethan Gregg was fourth (3:50.84) in the 1,500-meter run while Paul Lough finished fourth (10.97) and
Luke Vance fifth (10.98) in the 100-meter dash.
Nick Kepford placed fifth (1:59.64) in the 800-meter run and
Lukas Johnson sixth (15.23) in the 110-meter hurdles.
UWL had three of the top-six finishers in the hammer throw Saturday with
Logan Powers third (172-4),
Aiden Williams fourth (161-0) and
Douglas Grace sixth (156-3) in the hammer throw.
JT Zell finished fourth (15-3) in the pole vault.
Andrew Hermes was fourth (23-0 3/4) and
Triton Schmidt sixth (22-9 1/4) in the long jump with
Brody Kluge fifth (44-10 3/4) in the triple jump.
Esten served as head coach of the men's cross country program at UWL for 28 years (1970-97). He led the Eagles to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III title in 1996. UWL added national runner-up honors in either the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) or NCAA Division III eight times during Esten's tenure. In all, Esten's squads finished in the national top-10 in 26 consecutive tries and appeared in a national championship in 27 of his 28 cross country seasons. UWL won 20 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) titles under Esten. He was named the WIAC Men's Cross Country All-Time Coach.
He also served as an assistant track & field coach at UWL for 34 seasons. Esten is a member of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Hall of Fame, UWL Wall of Fame, NAIA Cross Country Hall of Fame, NAIA District 14 Hall of Fame and Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches' Association Hall. He is a 1965 graduate of UWL and former cross country and track athlete.
UWL returns to action Thursday, April 27 at the Drake University (Iowa) Relays.
