Cazzola Carries Titans To Second-Place Finish

Christy Cazzola (Sr. • Kaukauna) contributed three victories and Breanna Strupp (Sr. • Slinger) one as UW-Oshkosh took second at the WIAC Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship on Feb. 22-23 in Stevens Point.

The Titans totaled 153 points, but UW-La Crosse earned the title with 178.5. UW-Whitewater came in third place at 93.5, along with UW-Eau Claire in fourth at 90.5 and UW-Stout fifth at 51.

Cazzola won the 5,000-meter race by more than 55 seconds. Her time of 16:40.52 broke both the conference and facility records. UW-La Crosse's Corissa Conard finished second in 17:35.77.

In the mile run, Cazzola clocked a 4:57.64 to defeat teammate McKenzie Kelly (Sr. • New Richmond), who earned second place in 5:01.95.

The distance medley relay of Cazzola, Kelly, Stephanie Jahn (Jr. • Deerfield) and Alexandria Mahoney (So. • River Valley) also placed first with its mark of 12:17.93.

Cazzola was named Track Performer of the Meet. UW-Stout's Jessika Smith received Field Performer of the Meet, while UW-La Crosse's Pat Healy earned WIAC Coach of the Year.

UW-Oshkosh finished 1-2-3 in the shot put, with Strupp taking the title at 49-9. Abby Martin (Jr. • Chilton) then listed second at 46-8 and Melanie Brickner (So. • Marathon) third at 43-10.

The Titans totaled 46 points during the throwing events. Samantha Loew (Sr. • Burnett) added a second-place mark of 59-2 in the weight throw, while Brickner followed in third at 57-4.75, Strupp fourth at 55-9 and Martin sixth at 52-11.

Kasey Ederer (Fr. • Kaukauna) came in second with her high jump of 5-4.5. UW-Oshkosh also was the runner-up in the 1,600-meter relay at 3:56.46.

Kelly continued her success in the 3,000-meter race with a third-place finish in 10:37.25. Other third-place scores came from the 800-meter relay at 1:45.40, Claire Pohlman (Jr. • Sun Prairie) with a triple jump of 36-9 and Kylee Verhasselt (So. • Freedom) in the 800-meter run at 2:13.43.

Amanda Shober (So. • Sussex) counted a fourth-place triple jump of 36-4.75, as did Allie DeBaker (Jr. • Green Bay) with her 5,000-meter run in 18:20.51. In the 60-meter hurdles, Megan Geldernick (So. • Wauconda, Ill.) used 9.14 seconds for fifth place.

Titans capturing the sixth position were DeBaker in the 3,000-meter run at 10:41.43, Taylor Bauer (Fr. • Fort Atkinson) in the mile at 5:11.76, Samantha Blue (So. • Kimberly) in the long jump at 17-6 and Emelie Troedson (So. • New Berlin) in the pentathlon with 3,078 points.

UW-Oshkosh has last-chance meets in Madison and Stevens Point next weekend (March 1-2).