The UW-Eau Claire men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams both put together strong performances at last weekend’s Pointer Invite.
The invite, hosted by UW-Stevens Point, featured 14 different teams in the men’s competition and 13 teams in the women’s competition.
Men
The men’s team earned a total of five event victories on their way to a first place finish at the meet. Their 176.5 total points was well ahead of second-place Stevens Point’s 121.
Eau Claire saw their strongest performance in the 400-meter dash, where they had the top finishers in the event. Freshman Cody Prince led the way with his time of 50.00 seconds. Senior Patrick Mackin wasn’t far behind in second with his time of 50.09.
The men again saw strong performances from their throwers, who earned four of the top five places in the shot put. Senior Joe Lilek took first overall, while fellow senior Tyler Genovese placed second.
Genovese earned third place in the weight throw with his 18.14-meter toss. Senior Tony Sigrist placed first in the event with a 19.55-meter throw.
Women
The women’s team also earned five event victories at the meet. Their 100 points tied them for second place at the meet with Northern Michigan University.
Senior Julia Baranek stood out for the Blugolds with her first place finish in the high jump. Her attempt of 5-7.75 broke the old school record of 5-7.25, set
in 1996.
Other top finishers for Eau Claire were the 4×400-meter relay team featuring seniors Jordanne Greenup and Talisa Emberts and freshmen Steph Rouse and Brooke Patterson. The four runners put together a time of 4:01.98, more than six seconds faster than any other team.
Freshman Lucy Ramquist was a top finisher for the Blugolds with her 5:14.80 time in the mile run.
The women throwers also had a strong showing for Eau Claire. Senior Brittany Frederick took first place in the weight throw with her toss of 16.71-meters, nearly a full meter further than any of her competitors.
Up next for both teams is the Brooks Classic on Saturday at UW-River Falls.
