John Koenig

With school back in session, a new season is upon the men and women’s track and field teams, starting with the Blugold Open, held Friday.

Both teams were able to run away with first
place finishes in the meet.

Women’s Track and Field

The Blugolds competed against the University of St. Thomas (Minn.), Bethel University (Minn.), Winona State University (Minn.) and Saint Mary’s University (Minn.) in the meet.
The girls placed first out of the four other schools, outscoring the second-place holder, Winona State, by 76.5 points.

“At the end of the meet (coach Tracy Yengo) read several personal records that many of the athletes achieved through the night,” junior Bridget Bocher said. “(It) was really promising, because usually a team’s first meet is more about getting back into it; whereas here, we stepped it up and broke a lot of our own personal records.”

The team has 15 junior and senior athletes, which puts the other half of the team at underclassman status.

“We have quite a few new girls,” junior Christina Locke said, “but it’s not hard to make friends on the team.”

The team is looking forward to getting closer overall, she said.

“So far (the captains) have done an amazing job of getting to know everyone, hanging out as a team outside of practice and realizing how much we need our teammates,” Bocher said.
On Friday, the team received a good chunk of its points in the distance races, with wins from Locke in the 3000-meter race and sophomore Molly Warner in the 5000-meter race.

“We had some good competition at this meet,” Locke said. “And, even though all of us are just getting used to the track again, we’ve showed that we’re ready for the season.”
Adding to the Blugolds’ points in the field portion of the meet was junior Steph Barnes, who won the pole vaulting competition with a record jump of 12-2, breaking the old school record of 12-0, which she set last season.
Junior Liz Faller also contributed to the final score by placing first in the 55-meter hurdles and third in the 200-meter dash.
The women hope to improve their performance by focusing on day-to-day goals to help them down the road at more important meets,
Bocher said.

“Unlike a lot of sports teams, our ranking or placing in the conference is determined by one meet,” she said. “So, we work really hard to prepare for that one big event.”

Men’s Track and Field

Men’s track and field coach Chip Schneider was hoping last Friday’s Blugold Open would give some of the younger team members a chance to show their potential early on. Expectations were exceeded as the team ran away with the meet.

The Blugolds split into two separate squads, a Blue and a Gold team for the open. The Eau Claire Blue team won the event with a total score of 186 points. Not too far behind was the Gold team with 160. Bethel took a distant third place at 105 while Saint Mary’s and the Prime Time Track Club rounded out the event with scores of 33 and 18, respectively.

Blugold athletes won 14 of the 16 events. These victories were led by junior Nick Aliota’s two first-place finishes in the 55-For the ‘Golds, this event provided early competition between veterans and rookies as they look ahead to future meets. Four freshmen and three sophomores were individual winners between the two
Blugold squads.

“Three quarters of the team are freshmen and sophomores. The upperclassmen are expected to lead and the younger guys fill in the cracks,” Schneider said.

For the freshmen, it was their first chance to show what they could do at the college level.

Freshman Grant Haugan, who won the triple jump, said he felt pressure to do well and keep up with team expectations.

“Being a freshman, there’s some pressure because I’m trying to get my name out there, get other teams to recognize my name,” he said. “This is why I came here. I’ve been training since November so I had hoped to do well. Chip says we have to be serious, but have fun and be the best we can be.”

Weston Fischer, also a freshman, said he took his typical preparations from past meets into his first collegiate meet and ended up placing first in the 400-meter dash.

“I usually warm up on my own, put on some Led-Zeppelin,” he said. “(On Friday) I put my heart into it, did my best to prove myself to the team that I’m not just some little freshman. I had competed normally in the 800-meter run, so I just came in trying to score some points and ended up having a shot to win.”

Chris Kupfer, a freshman who won the 55-meter dash and finished second in the 200-meter race, said he also felt some of this same pressure.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself because of the success I had in high school,” he said. “I wanted to carry that over into college, and I didn’t want to disappoint my teammates. I pictured myself doing well, and this was a personal
record for me.”

Other Blugold winners included juniors Ryan Brohmer in the weight throw, Al Oleson in the shot put and Joey Veriga in the 800-meter run. Sophomores finishing first in their events consisted of Ted Lillie in the 3,000-meter run, high jumper Andrew Kling, and Dan Roemhild in the
long jump.

The team will travel to UW-Whitewater this Saturday for its next competition.

Schneider said his athletes will be competing in one or two events on Saturday, and he hopes they perform well. He has also set conference goals
for his team.

“We’re hoping to move up in conference this year after finishing in sixth place the past three years,” he said.
“I’m really happy where we are at, and this next meet we’re going to continue where
we’re going.”