The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's and women's track and field program hosted their annual Karl Schlender Invitational in the Williams Center Saturday in the squad's first competition of the indoor campaign. Both Warhawk teams bested the seven-team competition with the Warhawk men totaling 215 points to top the leaderboard by over 100 while the women won by over 50 with a team total of 167.5. 

Tina Shelton (Janesville, Wis./Parker) provided one of the biggest highlights of the day for UWW. Her blistering pace of 7.68 in the 60-meter dash preliminaries broke the previous school record of 7.73 shared by Lexie Sondgeroth (2014) and Kailey Reynolds (2020). Shelton went on to win the event by over four-tenths of a second with a clocking of 7.69 in the final. The men's 60 was also a thriller as Adam Kunny (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) battled it out with an unattached runner for the top spot. The videoboard flashed a tie, 6.93, and the timers had to go to a photo finish to determine a winner. Kunny ended up taking second by .001 while teammate Carsen Rindt (Appleton, Wis./Fox Valley Lutheran) secured bronze with a time of 7.05. 

UW-Whitewater had a number of additional top three finishers on both the track and in the field events Saturday. Ari De La Cerda (Milwaukee, Wis./Pewaukee) was tops in the mile run posting a time of 5:28.77. On the men's side, the national runner-up from cross country, Christian Patzka (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights), took silver with a time of 4:20.76. He was just .15 seconds behind his former teammate and recent UWW graduate David Fassbender (Slinger, Wis./Slinger). Gunner Schlender (Brillion, Wis./Brillion) finished third in the event with a time of 4:24.13. 

The 600-meter run saw a pair of Warhawks take gold. Paige Fassbender (Slinger, Wis./Slinger) won the women's race with a time of 1:39.88 while Carleen Snow (Rio, Wis./DeForest) and Katie Erb (Winnebago, Ill./Winnebago) made it a 1-2-3 sweep for the women. The men's race came down to the wire with Justin Krause (Ixonia, Wis./Pewaukee) leaning for the victory by just .05 registering a time of 1:24.05. In addition to Krause's first-place finish, the Warhawk men swept third through seventh place in the event. 

A similar result came through in the 400 as Katie McNamara (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) and Sarah Nieheuser went 1-2 for UW-Whitewater with times of 1:02.83 and 1:03.60 respectively. The Warhawks also added points for fourth and sixth place to the women's total. Kobe Chandler (Beloit, WI/Memorial) led a contingent of five Warhawks to place among the top eight for the men with a first place clocking of 51.05. 

In the 800-meter run, the Warhawk men swept the top three led by Tucker Johnson's (Poynette, Wis./Poynette) 2:05.19 while Alex Metko (Brillion, Wis./Brillion) and Brandon Massman (Belvidere, Ill./North) finished in second and third respectively. Shelton picked up another gold crossing the line first in the 200 with a time of 25.48. Marlon Cystrunk (DeForest, Wis./DeForest) captured third on the men's side with a time of 23.23. 

Tamir Thomas (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) led the UWW hurdlers with a third-place time of 8.64 in the 60 hurdles. Lena Baker finished just outside the top three with a time of 10.39 for the women in the event. 

The Warhawks were dominant in the pole vault as Gracie Holland (Marshfield, Wis./Marshfield) (3.73 meters) and Carleen Snow (Rio, Wis./DeForest) (3.26 meters) went 1-2 for the women and Chris Bitz (Brookfield, Wis./East) (4.55 meters) won the men's competition. Elta Maher and Adam Giljohann (Menomonie, Wis./Menomonie) added fourth place finishes in the event. Josh Krystosek (Palmyra, Wis./Palmyra-Eagle) registered a height of 2.00 meters to take gold in the high jump. Teammates Spencer Steffen (Appleton, Wis./West) and Ty Jahnke (Watertown, Wis./Watertown) finished in third and fourth respectively. On the women's side, Danielle Pouska (Algonquin, IL/Jacobs) and Rebecca Lawrence (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander) each posted a height of 1.48 meters to finish with silver and bronze. 

Brayden Zettle (Monroe, Wis./Monroe) was the top finisher for the triple jumpers on the men's side with a distance of 14.32 meters. In the long jump, Tim Neumann (Waukesha, Wis./South) led a group of four to score with a leap of 6.49 meters, good for third. 

In the throws, Kenni Czarnecki (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) registered the second farthest toss in the weight throw, 15.60 meters as three Warhawks scored in the event. Sean Larsen (Waukesha, Wis./South) was the top finisher for the men with a heave of 15.75 meters for third. Czarnecki was also the top Warhawk in the women's shot put, leading a contingent of three that scored with a fourth-place throw of 11.58 meters. 

UW-Whitewater swept the top three spots in both the men's and women's distance medley relay. The top men's squad was clocked in 10:38.26 while the best women's foursome crossed the line in 13:45.19. 

The annual Squig Converse Invite is next up for the Warhawks. UW-Whitewater will host the men's competition next Friday while the women will compete in Kachel Fieldhouse Saturday.