Four athletes to compete at nationals
Women's track and field team places third in conference finals meet despite record breaking events
Ryan Dostalek
Issue date: 3/6/06 Section: Sports
The undefeated UW-Eau Claire women's track and field team headed to Stevens Point Friday and Saturday for the WIAC Indoor Track and Field Championship.
The team earned a Blugold record-breaking 113 points, placing them third out of nine teams, behind UW-Oshkosh and UW-La Crosse with 179.5 points and 166.5 points respectively.
Senior Erin Kokta started the Blugold women off strong Friday afternoon, with an 18' 9.25" long jump, giving her a first place finish in the event.
The jump automatically qualified Kokta for the national competition. She will compete in the long jump and triple jump. Kokta is currently second in the nation for the long jump and finished off the weekend with a second place finish in the triple jump, a third place finish in the high jump and a fifth place finish in the 55-meter dash.
After Friday's events, the Blugold women sat second behind La Crosse heading into the second day of the competition.
Saturday resulted in the breaking of four Eau Claire school records. Junior Shalene Huth ran as a member of the 4 x 200 meter relay team. The relay team took third in the event with a time of 1:45.69, setting a new Eau Claire indoor track and field record.
"Our handoffs weren't as good as we practiced," Huth said. "But we raced as well as we needed to break the record."
Other record-breaking performances included freshman Sarah Stirdivant's 800-meter run. Stirdivant placed fifth in the 800-meter-run with a time of 2:18.22 and ran the second leg of the 4 x 400 meter relay.
The relay came in at 3:59.05, just two one-hundredths of a second behind La Crosse, breaking another Eau Claire indoor track and field record and qualifying them provisionally for the national meet.
Senior Stephanie Barnes won the pole vault event, setting a conference record height of 12' 8" automatically qualifying her for the nationals, and placing her first in the nation.
Junior Liz Faller ran a personal best of 8.36 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles qualifying her for the national championship and placed her among the top 10 hurdlers in the nation.
"I was impressed with all of their performances from the beginning to the end of the meet," coach Tracy Yengo said. "They came together at the right time and believed in themselves, and the end result was exciting and I'm proud of all of them."
The Blugold women's track and field team will be sending Kokta, Faller, freshman Liz Kooistra, and Barnes to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, March 10 to 11, hosted by St. Olaf College (Minn.).
The team earned a Blugold record-breaking 113 points, placing them third out of nine teams, behind UW-Oshkosh and UW-La Crosse with 179.5 points and 166.5 points respectively.
Senior Erin Kokta started the Blugold women off strong Friday afternoon, with an 18' 9.25" long jump, giving her a first place finish in the event.
The jump automatically qualified Kokta for the national competition. She will compete in the long jump and triple jump. Kokta is currently second in the nation for the long jump and finished off the weekend with a second place finish in the triple jump, a third place finish in the high jump and a fifth place finish in the 55-meter dash.
After Friday's events, the Blugold women sat second behind La Crosse heading into the second day of the competition.
Saturday resulted in the breaking of four Eau Claire school records. Junior Shalene Huth ran as a member of the 4 x 200 meter relay team. The relay team took third in the event with a time of 1:45.69, setting a new Eau Claire indoor track and field record.
"Our handoffs weren't as good as we practiced," Huth said. "But we raced as well as we needed to break the record."
Other record-breaking performances included freshman Sarah Stirdivant's 800-meter run. Stirdivant placed fifth in the 800-meter-run with a time of 2:18.22 and ran the second leg of the 4 x 400 meter relay.
The relay came in at 3:59.05, just two one-hundredths of a second behind La Crosse, breaking another Eau Claire indoor track and field record and qualifying them provisionally for the national meet.
Senior Stephanie Barnes won the pole vault event, setting a conference record height of 12' 8" automatically qualifying her for the nationals, and placing her first in the nation.
Junior Liz Faller ran a personal best of 8.36 seconds in the 55-meter hurdles qualifying her for the national championship and placed her among the top 10 hurdlers in the nation.
"I was impressed with all of their performances from the beginning to the end of the meet," coach Tracy Yengo said. "They came together at the right time and believed in themselves, and the end result was exciting and I'm proud of all of them."
The Blugold women's track and field team will be sending Kokta, Faller, freshman Liz Kooistra, and Barnes to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, March 10 to 11, hosted by St. Olaf College (Minn.).