Titans Rank Second At WIAC Indoor Championship
Melanie Brickner won both throwing events to help UW-Oshkosh finish second at the WIAC Women's Indoor Track & Field Championship held Friday and Saturday (Feb. 27-28) in Platteville.
Brickner earned her titles by calculating measurements of 62-10 in the 20-pound weight throw and 48-0 3/4 in the shot put.
UW-Stout's Lydia Meier finished second among the 27 contestants in the 20-pound weight throw with a distance of 59-1 1/4 while UW-Oshkosh's Jecel (Gerner) Klotz ranked second among the 23 participants in the shot put with a mark of 47-9 3/4. Klotz was the defending shot put champion.
UW-La Crosse tallied 207 points to capture its third straight WIAC indoor title and 23rd overall. The Eagles were followed by second-place UW-Oshkosh with 123 points, third-place UW-Eau Claire with 104 and fourth-place UW-Stout with 80. The Titans placed second in last year's meet with 134 points.
Completing the finishes in the nine-team meet were fifth-place UW-Stevens Point with 66 points, sixth-place UW-Platteville with 55.5, seventh-place UW-Whitewater with 51, eighth-place UW-River Falls with 12.5 and ninth-place UW-Superior with 1.
Kylee Verhasselt had a big meet for the Titans as well. She won the 800-meter run for the second straight year; finished second in the mile run and ran on a pair of top-four relay teams.
Verhasselt defeated 23 other competitors in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.32 and placed second in the mile run with a time of 4:59.49. Amanda Brom of UW-Whitewater finished second in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:15.14.
In the relays, Verhasselt, Sonny Jenkins, Stephanie Knutson and Kristen Linzmeier recorded a second-place distance medley time of 12:27.34. Verhasselt then teamed with Becklyn Hunter, Stephanie Jahn and Caitlyn McCormick to post a fourth-place 1,600-meter time of 3:57.96.
UW-Oshkosh's remaining event title came from Kasey Ederer in the high jump. Ederer leaped to a height of 5-5 3/4 to defeat 20 other contestants. Caitlin Thomson of UW-Platteville finished second to Ederer with a jump of 5-5 1/4.
Taking third place for the Titans were Klotz in the 20-pound weight throw with a distance of 57-8 1/2 and Samantha Blue in the long jump with a mark of 18-5 1/4. Blue also finished seventh in the 60-meter dash with a time of 8.40 seconds.
Emily Reichenberger accounted for two of UW-Oshkosh's other four fourth-place finishes. She accomplished the feat by running to times of 7.85 seconds in the 60-meter dash and 25.68 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Megan Geldernick added a fourth-place time of 8.97 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles.
UW-Oshkosh's 800-meter relay team of Blue, Alicia Gentz, Ashley Holicek and Alesha Malueg finished fourth with a time of 1:45.52.
The Titans had a trio of sixth-place finishes as Elizabeth Abhold marked a distance of 42-4 3/4 in the shot put while Jenkins and McCormick ran to times of 2:18.55 in the 800-meter run and 58.94 seconds in the 400-meter run, respectively. Abhold also finished eighth in the 20-pound weight throw with a measurement of 54-0 1/2.
Hunter contributed a pair of seventh-place performances by recording times of 26.13 seconds in the 200-meter dash and 58.98 seconds in the 400-meter run. UW-Oshkosh also received seventh-place times of 2:19.87 in the 800-meter run from Linzmeier and 18:27.25 in the 5,000-meter run from Leah Rendflesh.
Amanda Shober wrapped up UW-Oshkosh's list of place winners with her eighth-place distance of 35-9 1/2 in the triple jump.
UW-Oshkosh competes in last chance qualifiers at Carthage College on Friday (March 6) and UW-Stevens Point on Saturday (March 7) before participating at the NCAA Division III Championship on March 13-14 in Winston-Salem, N.C.