PLATTEVILLE, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-Platteville indoor track and field season kicked off on Saturday afternoon at the UW-Platteville/UW-Eau Claire/UW-Stevens Point Triangular inside the Williams Fieldhouse.
The men's and women's teams both finished second at the triangular with the men tallying 62 points and the women finishing with 53. UW-Eau Claire was the top scoring team at the meet, totaling 161 points on the women's side and the men finishing with 155.
Junior Riley Coulter won the 800m, finishing with a time of 2:02.07 to open the season. Sophomore Derrick Turner put together a solid opener, finishing third in the 60m (6.99) and fourth in the 200m (23.44). Spencer Vanek placed second in the 400m, posting a time of 50.87 seconds.
On the women's side, sophomore Margaret Rusch won the 400m with a time of 1:02.00. Freshman Savannah Morgan placed third in the 60m at 8.18 and junior Kayla Lipsey took third in the 60m hurdles at 9.62 seconds. Senior Kaitlyn Galgon crossed the line for fourth in the mile with a time of 5:17.65.
In the field events for the men, senior Justin Eichler recorded a pair of second-place finishes in the shot put (15.09m) and weight throw (17.18m). Senior Ben Veverka took fourth in the same events with throws of 14.59m in the shot put and 15.83m in the weight throw. In the jumps, junior Weston Pink finished second in the triple jump (13.18m), while freshman Baylor Smith (5.69m) and junior Daniel Inyang (1.95m) each placed fourth in the long jump and high jump, respectively.
The field events saw some strong performances from the women, highlighted be several second-place finishes. Junior Alexis Healey placed second in the long jump (5.03m), while freshman Kelli Schneider took second in the triple jump (10.66m) in her collegiate debut. Sophomore Shannon Wulf was the Pioneers top finishes in the long jump, posting a mark of 4.98m. Sophomore Brenna Noon finished second in the shot put with a toss of 13.38m while senior Paulina Wienke was second in the weight throw at 16.40m.
The Pioneers will compete at a pair of meets next weekend, with some athletes heading to Chicago for the Aurora Grand Prix at the Gately Indoor Track on Friday and Saturday. Others will compete at the Sol Butler Classic in Dubuque on Saturday.
