Going into day two of the WIAC Championships, hosted by UW-La Crosse, the women’s team wasn’t set to place in the top three. They were ranked fourth out of the nine teams in La Crosse this past weekend.

At the end of the meet Saturday night, the Blugolds made the one hour, 45 minute trek back home with a second place finish, and with four conference championships and two new school records in hand.

Senior Carly Fehler was one of the athletes who came out on top this past weekend, winning the 200-meter dash, and being part of the 4×100 meter relay, which also claimed the top spot.

With the two wins, Fehler is ranked number one in not only the 200-meter dash, but she, along with teammates Kelsey Woracheck, Lindsey Laufenberg and Jessie Reineck are also ranked number one in the 4×100 meter relay.

Fehler said what happens at the conference meet usually gives the team a “small taste” of what’s going to happen within the next few weeks.

“This is where we get rolling,” Fehler said. “Times start to drop, throws and jumps get bigger. This is what we’ve worked for all season.”

The men’s track and field team also competed in La Crosse last weekend, garnering a third place finish. The men’s team came home with five first-place finishes, including senior Thurgood Dennis’ fourth first-place finish in the 100-meter dash.

He is the third athlete in UW-Eau Claire history who has won the 100-meter dash four consecutive times.

Dennis also placed first in the 200-meter and the 4×100 meter relay, which consisted of senior Cory White and sophomores Jake Pientok and Connor Drexler.

Other first place finishers for the men’s team included senior Roger Steen in the shot put and senior Brandon Zarnoth in the decathlon.

The next step

While the national meet isn’t until Thursday, May 21- Saturday, May 23, the Blugolds will both travel back to La Crosse to compete in two last chance meets. While the women’s 4×100 is going to nationals in Canton, New York, Laufenberg said her and her teammates are still going to run the 4×100 at least one more time before nationals.

Even though the 4×100 meter relay is set to compete at nationals, Laufenberg said they’re running in the Last Chance Meet to stay steady with their times.

“Even if we run the same time, we would be happy just to know we’re consistent and we didn’t just run really fast one time and now we can’t hit it again,” she said.

Fehler said from now until the national meet, she’s taking the last few weeks to relax and stay healthy.

“As far as training goes, we’ve put in the work we need to do in order to be successful,” Fehler said. “This is my last few weeks as a Blugold, so I’m going to try to enjoy that and the time with my team.”