The Blugold indoor track and field team competed in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) championship this past weekend at UW-Stevens Point. The women’s team showed great effort and were able to take home second at the meet with a total of 153.5 points.

The men’s team came away with multiple event wins and would end up placing fourth with a total score of 88 points.

On Saturday, it would be the distance medley relay team that showed a strong performance. Brandon Christnovich and Patrick Treacy, both juniors, Bailey Wilson, second-year, and Darin Lau, senior, led the effort and placed first with a time of 10:12.48.

Other strong finishers included David Kornack, senior, with a second place finish in the shot put (57-5.50), and Dietrich Shwoerer, second-year, finished fourth in the 400 (50.21). Dylan Cooper, second-year, finished first in three of the seven heptathlon events (shot put, high jump, 60-meter hurdles) to win the event with a total score of 5,082 points.

Hard work carried over into Sunday as Lau won the 3,000-meter (8:23.26), and Treacy finished just two spots behind him in third (8:30.40). Runners of the 4×400 relay, Aaron Zmolek, KJ Munn, Shwoerer, and Hunter Henk, all second-years, would control the field and place first (3:20.18).

The women’s team put in a strong effort all across the board to earn their second place finish.

The distance medley relay team was just as strong for the girls as the team of first-years Emma Drangstveit, Sarah Moen, and Lizzy Cisewski, accompanied by senior Kelsey Worachek took first place in the event (12:21.17).

Sarah Glidden, senior, started the weekend off strong with first place finishes in the 400-meter dash (57.34) and the high jump (5-4.25). She was not alone at the top because JoHannah Theisen, senior, won the shot put, with Erica Oawster, junior, two spots behind her in third place.

Glidden did not slow down after her two wins on Saturday, as she went on to win the 60-meter hurdles (9.01). She was also part of the 4×400 relay team of Ashleigh Buergi, senior, Lizzy Keena, first-year and Glory Hecker, second-year, who took home first place (3:53.78).

Glidden said she felt the team was prepared for the meet and there were a lot of good performances.

“We performed well,” Glidden said, “We had several personal records on both the guys’ and girls’ side.”

The next scheduled meet for the Blugolds is the UW-Superior Last Chance Meet on March 3. Glidden will not be participating in this meet as she has already qualified for the NCAA national meet in Birmingham, Alabama on March 9-10.

“Chip (coach) keeps reminding us that we have put in the work the whole season and we are more than ready to compete at our best,” Glidden said. “He reminds us that we are capable of doing great things when we get there.”

Cooper, also talking about the NCAA national meet, said that when it comes to national time they would be ready to go.

“It’s a big meet,” Cooper said. “You have to be mentally and physically there, and put all those components together at the right time.”