LA CROSSE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The UW-Eau Claire men's track and field team currently finds itself in fifth place after day one of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships held here today at Roger Harring Stadium at Veterans Memorial Field Sports Complex on the UW-La Crosse campus.
The Blugolds scored 25 points after seven events. Host UW-La Crosse leads all schools with 66.83 points followed by UW-Stout with 59.50 points, UW-Whitewater with 38 points and UW-Stevens Point with 34 points.
The team of Ryan Graham (So.-Maple Grove, MN), Erik Rosvold (Jr.-Apple Valley, MN/Eastview),Brendon Paucek (So.-Sullivan, WI/Jefferson) and Joshua Thorson (Jr.-Plymouth, MN/Wayzata)won the 4 x 800-meter relay championship with a time of 7:42.28. The accomplishment marks only the second time in school history that a Blugold 4 x 800 relay team has won a WIAC outdoor championship. The accomplishment was achieved in 2006 by Ben Brossard, Wes Fischer, Joey Veriga and Adam Wolfe.
In the 10,000-meter run Nicholas Petersson (Jr.-Brookfield, WI/Central) finished third with a time of 31:44.52 followed closely behind by Matt Cyra (So.-Eagle, WI/Mukwonago) who finished fourth crossing the finish line in 31:46.82.
Roger Steen (Sr.-Luck, WI) finished fifth in the hammer throw with a toss of 176 feet (53.64 meters).
Brandon Zarnoth (Sr.-Appleton, WI/North) and Greg Peterson (Sr.-Hartland, WI/Arrowhead)ended day one of the decathlon in first and second place with 3,793 and 3,599 points, respectively. Zarnoth won the 100-meter dash, 400-meter dash, long jump and shot put while tying for sixth in the high jump. Peterson tied for first in the high jump while placing second in the long jump, third in the 100 and 400-meter dashes and fourth in the shot put.
Cody Prince (Sr.-Appleton, WI/North) advanced to the finals of the 400-meter dash posting the fastest time of the day of 47.84 seconds. Prince's time is currently the eighth-fastest time run inNCAA Division III this season.
Thurgood Dennis (Sr.-Allouez, WI/Green Bay Notre Dame) qualified for the finals of the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Dennis finished second in the 100-meter dash clocking in at 10.56 seconds. Dennis also finished second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 21.38 seconds. Cory White(Sr.-Tomah, WI) will join Dennis in the finals of the 200-meter dash as he advanced with a time of 21.74 seconds.
Rylan Page (Jr.-Milwaukee, WI/The Prairie School) advanced to the finals of the 110-meter hurdles posting a time of 14.93 seconds.
The Blugolds will conclude competition tomorrow at the WIAC Championships. Action is set to begin at 9:00 a.m.
-KCM-
