PLATTEVILLE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - A broken record and a pair of one-two finishes highlighted the day as the UW-Eau Claire men's track & field team competed at the UW-Platteville Invitational.
Tom Breitbach's (Jr.-Muskego, Wis.) time in the 5,000-meter run not only paced the field, but shattered the fieldhouse record. Breitbach recorded a time of 14:35.77, which was over eight seconds faster than the Platteville venue's previous fast time set in 2000. Breitbach's time also approached the conference record of 14:33.00, set in 1988 by former Blugold Dan Held.
Patrick Keyes (Sr.-Ham Lake, Minn./Blaine) and Arabin Lightfoot (Sr.-Mosinee, Wis.) finished just one hundredth of a second apart in the 55-meter hurdles event, with Keyes' field-leading 7.75 just edging out Lightfoot. Blugolds also recorded the top two performances in the triple jump competition. Keegan Parrott (So.-Waunakee, Wis.) completed a field-best jump of 13.52 meters (44-04.25) and teammate Logan Koerten (Sr.-Plover, Wis./SPASH) followed with an effort of 13.28 meters (43-07.00).
Kirk Schmidt (Sr.-Athens, Wis.) also had a strong performance today, recording the best jump in the long jump event. Schmidt jumped a distance of 6.65 meters (21-10.00).
Next Saturday, the Blugolds will travel to Stevens Point for the Eastbay Invite, where competition is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. The invite will be Eau Claire's final competition before the WIAC Championship beginning Feb. 25.
