Eagles In Fourth Place After Day One; Matthai, Schmidt and Staryszak Earn All-America Honors

Aidan Matthai earns NCAA III All-America honor in 10000 meter run

La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's track and field team is in fourth place after the first day of action at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Outdoor Championships Thursday at UWL's Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex.

2026 NCAA III OUTDOOR TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP BASICS

Team Results - UWL is fourth place with nine points. Leading the Championships is UW-Oshkosh with 24 points while St.Olaf College (Minn.) is in second with 11 points followed by Cornell College (Iowa) in third. Carthage College (Wis.), Emory University (Ga.) and Roger Williams University (R.I.) are tied for fifth place with eight points.
Location - UWL's Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex, La Crosse, Wis. (Hosted by UW-La Crosse)
UWL at NCAA III Championships - UWL has won an NCAA Division III record 17 Outdoor Championships. The Eagles are attempting to defend their 2024 and 2025 National Title.
Up Next: Day two of the Championships gets underway at 10:00 a.m Friday morning.

Action photo of Anthony Staryszak throwing disc — Anthony Staryszak

HOW IT HAPPENED

Field Events

Long Jump (Final) - Sebastian Jefferson and With his jump of 23-8 1/4, Triton Schmidt earns his second straight NCAA All-America honor in the long jump as he finished eighth overall. Also competing in the long jump for the Eagles was Sebastian Jefferson who had a top mark of 23-5 1/2.
Discus (Final) - Earning his first NCAA III All-America honor in the discus was Anthony Staryszak. With a throw of 174-2, Staryszak finished fourth individually.
Decathlon (100 Meters, Long Jump, Shot Put, High Jump, 400 Meters) - After the first five events of the decathlon, Trent Backeberg sits in sixth place with 3,637 points while Nolan Seaberg is in ninth place with 3,567 points.

Action photo of Triton Schmidt long jumping — Triton Schmidt

Track Events

200 Meter Dash (Prelims) - Luke Schroeder competed in the 200 meter dash but did not qualify as he finished with a time of 21.55.
400 Meter Hurdles (Prelims) - Finn Patenaude and Zachary Nyquist both competed in the preliminaries of the 400 meter hurdles but did not qualify for the finals. Patenaude finished with a time of 53.15 while Nyquist had a time of 53.81.
1500 Meter Run (Prelims) - With the fourth fastest time (3:46.98), Jayden Zywicki qualifies for the finals of the 1500 Meter run on Saturday.
3000 Meter Steeplechase (Prelims) - UWL would have four of the top five qualifiers for Friday night's finals in the 3000 meter steeplechase led by Owen Clark with a time of 8:55.28. Also qualifying was Charles Vater (8:55.69), Zywicki (8:57.66) and Joey Sullivan (8:59.42). Chase Altergott also competed in the 3000 meter steeplechase as he finished with a time of 9:09.01.
4x400 Relay (Prelims) - The relay team of Devin Williams, Finn Patenaude, Lucas Krause and Collin Conzemius qualified for the the finals on Saturday with a time of 3:10.48.
10000 Meter Run (Finals) - Aidan Matthai earns his second outdoor NCAA III All-American honor in the 10000 meter run as he finished sixth overall with a season best time of 29:31.11.