WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Blugolds.com) – The UW-Eau Claire men's track and field team earned one national champion, the distance medley relay, in day one of the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships hosted by Roanoke College here today at JDL Fast Track.
Complete Results | Photos (Courtesy Sideline Media Productions)
The Blugolds are currently tied for fourth place with Oneonta (NY) both earning 10 points. UW-La Crosse is the overall team leader with 31 points followed by North Central (IL) with 26 points and Mount Union (OH) rounding out the top three scoring 11.5 points.
The distance medley relay of Adam Moline (Jr.-Maple Grove, MN/Wayzata), Will LaJeunesse (Jr.-Belle Plaine, MN), Ryan Graham (So.-Maple Grove, MN) and Josh Thorson (Fr.-Plymouth, MN/Wayzata) flew past the competition posting a time of 9:54.82 which was more than 3.5 seconds faster than their next closest finisher. Their time shattered the school record of 9:59.45 set on March 5, 2011 at UW-Stevens Point.
The victory marked the first-ever national championship won by a UW-Eau Claire distance medley relay squad. The only Blugold relay team to win an indoor national championship was the 4 x 400 relay team which won its national title in 2013.
Brandon Zarnoth (Sr.-Appleton, WI/North) is tied for first place after day one of the heptathlon after compiling 3,001 points over the first four events with Eric Larson of Central College of Iowa. Zarnoth finished first in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.04 seconds along with a first place finish in the shot put with a toss of 43-9 (13.33 meters). Zarnoth also placed second in the long jump with a leap of 22-5.25 (6.84 meters) and tied for fourth in the high jump clearing 6-0.75 (1.85 meters).
Cody Prince (Sr.-Appleton, WI/North) advanced to the finals of the 400-meter dash posting the fastest time of the day of 48.72 seconds. Prince was just 23-tenths of a second off his school record of 48.49 set last weekend.
Thurgood Dennis (Sr.-Allouez, WI/Green Bay Notre Dame) advanced to the finals of the 60-meter dash posting the second-fastest time in preliminaries completing the race in 6.90 seconds. Dennis also competed in the 200-meter dash but fell short of advancing to the finals placing 12th with a time of 22.32 seconds.
Greg Peterson (Sr.-Hartland, WI/Arrowhead) currently sits in sixth place of the heptathlon with a total of 2,751 points. Peterson's highest finish was in the long jump placing fourth with a leap of 22-0.75 (6.72 meters) and tying for fourth in the high jump with Zarnoth clearing 6-0.75 (1.85 meters).
Zarnoth will complete the final four events of the heptathlon tomorrow while Prince will be competing in the triple jump along with the 400-meter finals. Dennis will attempt to be a three-time national champion in the 60-meter dash while Thorson will look to earn his first-ever national championship in the 3,000-meter run. Roger Steen (Sr.-Luck, WI) enters the shot put finals as the top-ranked thrower in NCAA Division III.
The 4 x 400-meter relay team of Dennis, LaJeunesse, Prince and Jimmy Paske (So.-Minnetonka, MN/Hopkins) enter tomorrow's finals as the third-fastest squad in the nation. Their season-best time of 3:16.88 is less than one second off the fastest time posted in Division III of 3:16.00 set by Augustana (IL) on February 20, 2015.
The final day of competition of the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships will take place tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m.
-KCM-
