STEVENS POINT, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - In its first scored meet of the year, the UW-Eau Claire men's track & field team outperformed the competition, earning first place out of the 12 teams competing in the Pointer Invitational.
The Blugolds racked up 181.5 total points during the competition to edge ahead of host Stevens Point's score of 174.5. Individual Blugolds finished first four times and accumulated 16 top threes. Three Blugolds – Patrick Mackin (Jr.-Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy), Tony Sigrist (Jr.-Byron, Minn.) and Bart Mestelle (Jr.-Sun Prairie, Wis.) – also met provisional qualifying marks in their respective events for the NCAA Championship in March.
Two of the Blugolds' victories came on the track, starting with Alex Adkinson's (So.-Whitewater, Wis.) time of 1:57.19 in the 800-meter run. Arabin Lightfoot (Sr.-Mosinee, Wis.) also picked up the win in the 55-meter hurdle competition with an effort of 7.80.
Mackin recorded a second place run in the 400 meter dash, but his time of 49.82 was quick enough to be a provisional qualifying mark. The Blugolds also had strong performances in the one-mile run as teammates Aaron Easker (So.-Eland, Wis./Wittenberg-Birnamwood ), Jake Zander (Sr.-Chippewa Falls, Wis./McDonell) and Matt Scott (Fr.-Kiel, Wis.) all placed within the top five, led by Easker's second-best time of 4:16.81. Other top Blugold track performances were Michael Borden's (So.-Holmen, Wis.) second place finish in the 5,000-meter run and the UW-Eau Claire A team's third place in the 4x400 relay.
In the field, Kirk Schmidt (Sr.-Athens, Wis.) and Sigrist each picked up a win for Eau Claire. Schmidt took first in the long jump with an attempt of 6.71 meters (22-0.25), leading three other Blugolds who finished in the top five. He also snagged a third place in the triple jump event with an effort of 13.41 meters (44-0.00).
Sigrist nabbed the top spot in the weight throw with a toss of 17.82 meters (58-0.50), which also met the provisional qualifying mark. In addition, Sigrist picked up a second place finish in the shot put. In both events, Tyler Genovese (Jr.-Stevens Point, Wis./SPASH) had a solid day as well, finishing just once spot behind Sigrist each time.
Mestelle performed solidly in all five events to earn second place in the indoor pentathlon competition with a point total of 3,573.00, his provisional qualification. His best segment was the high jump event, in which he tied for first.
Next weekend, the Blugolds will look to continue their success with the UW-Platteville Invite. Competition is set to begin at 10:30 a.m.
