Women's track and field team go 5-0
Blugolds go undefeated in opening meets with conference matchup ahead, ranked No. 2 in national poll
Andy Weise
Issue date: 2/23/06 Section: Sports
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The women of UW-Eau Claire's track and field team are also rated No. 2 in the Div. III "MF: Everything Track and Field" national poll based on its combined team score.
The ranking, which takes the two top scores from each time in every event, currently lists 69 teams. The Blugolds are
at a total score of 130.65, 18 points
behind UW-Oshkosh.
Their meet last weekend was the Blue Devil Open, hosted by UW-Stout. The end result was the same as the first four meets - a first place win with numerous personal records by several Blugold athletes. The Blugolds won with a score of 249.33, with Stout coming in a distant second at 142.
The 'Golds were led by senior Erin Kokta who took first place in three separate events, along with two second places.
Kokta had a personal record in the high jump at 1.61 meters, placed first in the long jump with a 5.36 meters jump and in the triple jump with a 10.73 showing. She also finished second in the 55-meter dash and the
200-meter dash.
Kokta, who has won the long jump in the past four meets, said her success has a lot to do with her training.
"(I'm) getting stronger, building off my teammates," she said. "We've come in with high standards after the cross country team made it to nationals. They brought a lot of that with them into track and we're playing and building off it. (The ranking) is a huge accomplishment."
Other first place finishes included junior Kelly Sprague in the 55-meter dash with a time of 7.46 seconds, sophomore Kjersten Holt, who took the 200-meter dash at 27.19, freshman Liz Kooistra in the 800-meter coming in at 2:18.53 and junior Liz Faller with a 8.52 seconds time in the 55-meter hurdles, who was also ranked No. 11 nationally.
Junior Bridget Bocher took first in the 1-mile run with a time of 5:20.26 and senior Jane-Marie Ovanin finished first in the 5,000-meter run at 18:27.03.