UW-Whitewater piled up points in the long jump, hammer throw and javelin with multiple placewinners to earn the lead after the first day of competition at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championship Friday in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Team scores after day one:
UW-Whitewater 56.5, UW-La Crosse 50.5, UW-Stevens Point 45, UW-Eau Claire 37, UW-Platteville 34, UW-Stout 25, UW-Oshkosh 21, and UW-River Falls 4.
Cory Lockridge (Milwaukee/Rufus King)'s conference championship led four Warhawk placewinners, half of the scoring places, in the long jump. Lockridge used a team season best performance, 22-5, to win. Lockridge is the eighth Warhawk to win the long jump at the outdoor meet, with Derek Stanley (Verona/Verona) and Dan Herms winning the titles in 2006 and 2007 giving UW-W three of the last four long jump titles. Lockridge also won the WIAC indoor long jump title earlier this season.
Lockridge was followed in the long jump by teammates Marcus Smith (Milwaukee/West Allis Central), second (22-1.5); Mike Schmitt (Manitowoc/Roncalli), sixth (21-6); and Tyler Eddy (Mukwonago/Mukwonago), seventh (21-5.25).
UW-W also picked up three placewinners in the hammer throw. Shaun Davis (Edgerton/Edgerton) finished second (181-3) to lead the Warhawk contingent. Ryan Howell (New Glarus/New Glarus), fifth (174-7) and Ben Stringer (Assumption, IL/Central A&M), sixth (168-3) added to Davis' hammer points. Davis' mark is the best on the team this season, and both his distance and Howell's improve National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III provisional qualifying marks which they had already attained this season.
More points in a throw came in the javelin, with Ben Stringer (Assumption, IL/Central A&M) (171-5) and #R.J. Soderman# (164-6) finishing in second and third, respectively.
The other points in Whitewater's leading day one total came from Tom Weigand (West Allis/West Allis Hale)'s tie for eighth place in the pole vault (14-6.25 and the 4x800 relay, which placed fifth (8:03.03).
UW-W top finishers in other finals Friday were Mathias Werve (Kenosha/Tremper) in the 3000 steeplechase (10:14.96) and Dan Machmueller (West Allis/West Allis Hale) in the 10,000 meters (32:49.18).
Five Warhawks also used Friday's preliminaries to advance to the finals of their events Saturday. That group included Marcus Smith (Milwaukee/West Allis Central) in the 110 hurdles (15.14), Peter Schroder in the 400 hurdles (54.96), Ernest Downing (Cleveland, OH/Glenville) in the 400 (50.03); and the duo of Matt Kovnesky (Fort Atkinson/Fort Atkinson) (1:54.17) and Alek Konopacki (Madison/Madison West) (1:54.62) in the 800 meters. The times turned in by Smith and Schroeder are team season best performances.
The WIAC outdoor meet will conclude in Oshkosh Saturday.
For additional information: Darren Schneider, UW-W coach
