March 19, 2014
By Carson Taylor
With numerous All-American honors, the UW-Whitewater track and field teams posted strong performances at the NCAA Division-III Indoor National Championships.
Finishing in a tie for fifth, the Warhawk women equaled the best showing in school history. The men placed sixth.
The National Championships were hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan and held at the Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Neb.
The WIAC dominated the meet, holding five of the top eight teams and showing the strength of the conference.
UW-La Crosse finished in first on the men’s side, while UW-Oshkosh won the title for the women.
Men
The Warhawk men have finished among the top 10 teams in four consecutive NCAA Indoor Championships.
Junior Jared Denu led the men, becoming the first male athlete in UW-Whitewater history to earn All-America honors in three events at the same championship.
The honors are awarded to the top eight performers in each event.
On Friday, Denu was a part of the Warhawks’ third-place distance medley relay team with senior Kevin Buntman and fellow juniors Tony Urbanski and Dawson Miller.
On Saturday, Denu picked up his second and third All-American finishes as an anchor on UW-Whitewater’s 4×400-meter relay team that finished eighth and in the 400-meter dash when he finished sixth, with a time of 48.63.
Joining Denu in the 4×400-meter relay team was sophomore Bryce Rudebeck and freshman Alex Sharrock and DQ Wynn-Smith.
In his first Indoor National Championship, sophomore Corey Broussard led the points total for the Warhawks with a second place finish in the 60-meter dash, tying his school record finishing at 6.75.
It was the best finish for a man in the short dash in UW-W history.
“I felt satisfied with what I did,” Broussard said. “To get on the podium and have my family and my team see me receive my award, I was still really excited about the place that I came in.”
Broussard also commented on the team’s overall performance on the weekend.
“I honestly wasn’t satisfied because I know as a team we can do way better,” Broussard said. “But with track there’s a lot of ups and downs, so we just have to go with that and move on to outdoor.”
Junior Dylan Crafton added to the ’Hawks’ All-American total with a sixth-place finish in the 200-meter dash, crossing the line at 21.79.
In the long jump, senior Corey Zaeske placed fifth with a leap of 23-1.75.
He became the first three-time All-American in the indoor long jump in UW-Whitewater history.
Women
The women showed strong improvement at nationals this year by placing fifth, jumping 16 spots from last year’s finish of 21st.
The ’Hawks also finished fifth in 1993.
They were led by juniors Shelby Mahr and Lexie Sondgeroth, each turning in two All-American performances.
Mahr placed second in the weight throw and sixth in the shot put.
Her toss of 60-10 in the weight throw broke the school record of 60-4.5 that she recorded earlier this year.
The second-place finish also is the best finish for a Warhawk woman since 2001.
“My goal was to PR in both events, and I was gonna be happy with the result as long as I threw well,” Mahr said. “Finishing in second was just a cherry on top of a good weekend.”
Sondgeroth, who qualified in three events, earned third place in the long jump with a leap of 18-7.25.
She also placed fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 24.81.
Junior Amanda Brom rounded out the top performers on the woman’s side, finishing sixth in the 800-meter dash.
Brom’s time was 2:13.71.
The Warhawks will now look ahead to the outdoor season, when they will host the Rex Foster Invitational taking place on April 4.
