LA CROSSE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - As the weather heated up on Saturday, so did the UW-Eau Claire men's and women's track and field teams en route to third place team finishes at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship, hosted by UW-La Crosse.
On the men's side, it was the same song but with a different verse as Thurgood Dennis (So.-Allouez, Wis./Notre Dame) once again led the way for the Blugolds.
Dennis, who has become the sprinting king in not only the conference but all of Division III, won the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. He won the 100-meters in a time of 10.47 before winning the 200-meters in 20.96 seconds. Dennis is now a perfect four-for-four in 200-meter dash WIAC titles in his college career.
Dennis and the rest of his teammates gave the Blugolds a tie for third-place with 110 points. UW-La Crosse won the meet with 223 points.
On the women's side of things, a pair of first-place finishes helped lead the Blugolds to 120.5 team points. Host UW-La Crosse won the meet with 246.5 points.
Ashlyn Mauer (Sr.-Sheboygan Falls, Wis.) won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in a time of 10:58.36, almost six seconds faster than the field. Mauer, who qualified for Nationals in the same event last season, was the lone Blugold winner on Friday for both men and women.
On Saturday, Erin Schoenfelder (Sr.-Antioch, Ill./Antioch Community) remained the best short distance hurdler in the WIAC, adding to her 2013 60-meter indoor championship with a first-place photo finish in the 100-meter hurdles. Schoenfelder ran the same time, 14.34 seconds, as the second-place finisher but was awarded first.
One school record also fell today as Bart Mestelle (Sr.-Sun Prairie, Wis.) took second in the decathlon. He finished with 6,498 points, breaking his old school record of 6,487 that he set last season at Outdoor Nationals.
The meet also gave out awards that were earned outside the field of competition. Marty Richardson (Sr.-Kimberly, Wis.) and Schoenfelder were recipients of the WIAC Sportsmanship Award, handed out to one man and one woman from each team.
The Blugolds were well represented in the academic awards of the meet. Schoenfelder was named the Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete on the women's side and Jeremy Kieser (Sr.-Verona, Wis.) was named the Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete on the men's side. Only one man and one woman from the entire conference win the award annually.
The Blugolds will return to action at a slew of last chance meets the next two weeks before Outdoor Nationals, May 23-25 in La Crosse.
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