La Crosse, Wis. -- The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's and women's track and field teams opened competition in the 2026 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships Friday. 

The Warhawk men's 10,000 squad secured the most team points for UWW on day one. Dan Anderson (Eau Claire, Wis./McDonell) led the way with a career best time of 29:58.15. That mark was good for bronze at the championship and is the fourth-fastest in program history. Alex Metko (Brillion, Wis./Brillon) claimed fourth with a time of 30:22.01 - the fastest of his career and ranked fifth in program history. Tucker Johnson (Poynette, Wis./Poynette) entered the UWW top ten with a clocking of 30:38.63 to add eighth place points to the team total. 

UW-Whitewater's first points of the meet came in the javelin as Sam Vargas (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) recorded a distance of 51.36 meters (168-6) for fifth. Connor Anderson (Waukesha, Wis./North) added another point to the men's total with a leap of 6.89 meters (22-7.25) to finish eighth in the long jump. 

Ryleigh Czarnecki (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) recorded her career best in the hammer throw Friday. Her toss of 49.57 meters (162-7) was seventh at the championship and ranks eighth in program history. 

UW-Whitewater had a number of Warhawks secure spots in the finals set for Saturday. The women's 200 squad highlighted the sprinters with three advancing to the finals. Kelly Huerta (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) led the way, winning her heat with a time of 24.42 - third-fastest in the qualifying. Cici Stennett (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) (24.43) and Hannah Wahl-Bilodeau (24.86) claimed their spots on time. Stennett also posted the third-fastest time in the 100, 11.89, to advance to the finals based on her time. Huerta will join her in the finals after registering the eighth-fastest qualifying time, 12.06. Wahl-Bilodeau also qualified for the finals in a second event. She won her heat of the 400 with a time of 56.80, third in qualifying.

Six Warhawk men qualified for the finals in five events Friday. Chris Kalies (Grafton, Wis./Grafton) tallied a pair of career best times to advance in the 200 and 400. His 21.41 in the 200 was sixth in qualifying while his clocking of 48.33 was third in the 400. Kayden Baumgart (Mount Horeb, Wis./Mount Horeb) notched a career best 10.58 in the 100 for sixth, while Vargas claimed the final spot with his time of 10.66. 

The men's 800 will feature two Warhawks -- Rhett Reuter (Darlington, Wis./Darlington) won his heat with the fourth-fastest time in qualifying, 1:52.40. Drew Davey (Elkhorn, Wis./Elkhorn) was the first to cross the line in his heat with a clocking of 1:53.42. Jack Erickson's (Belleville, Wis./Belleville) career best 53.50 in the 400 meter hurdles was good for third in qualifying Friday. 

In addition to the finals of the sprints and mid-distance events, Saturday's slate features the remaining events of the decathlon and heptathlon along with the relays, 1500, 5000, triple jump, shot put, discus and high jump.