Feb. 18, 2015 By Josh Sinclair

The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men’s track and field team stood head and shoulders above the competition in a WIAC Tri Meet on Valentine’s Day.

The men’s team defeated UW-Oshkosh and the UW-Stevens Point on Saturday by 59 and 181 points, respectively.

Freshman Robert Starnes thinks the team performed well in the meet.

“Motivation and determination and with that we can accomplish anything,” Starnes said. “That’s what the team did today, lots of personal best proves that.”

The team had 11 first-place finishes out of 15 events. The team scored in 13 of the events on Saturday, scoring in every event it entered.

Starnes won the high jump with a jump 6’05.5.” He has had a victory in an event in every meet this year.

“Coach told me I got the jumping part down, I just need to relax and nothing can hold me back,” Starnes said. “I realized that my team is behind me no matter what happens.”

Senior Mike Judd won the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.22 seconds. Judd remains undefeated for the season in the 60 meter hurdles as he aims to beat his third-place finish at WIAC Championships last year.

Senior captains Bryce Rudebeck and Jared Denu produced a photo-finish in the 200 meter dash, finishing just one one-hundredth of a second apart. Rudebeck took the victory with a time of 22.62 seconds.

The triple jump was an area of dominance for the Warhawks, taking first, second and fourth place. Freshman Mike Cournia won the event with a jump of over 47 feet, junior Eric Barber took second and Starnes took fourth in the triple jump in his first time ever participating in the event.

“We were just going to go out and give it our all,” Starnes said. “That’s what we’re doing every meet and it is even better when you can be successful like we were today.”

Women’s team takes home two first-place finishes

In a meet filled with powerhouses, including the first and second ranked teams in the country, the Warhawks were able to challenge the top teams and show its own strengths.

The UW-W women’s track and field team took home a handful of victories on Feb. 14 and took third out of four teams in the WIAC Quad.

“We are all here to push each other and compete at the highest level and so taking first is always the goal, but competing against girls like we did today is tough, so we really tried to get better,” sophomore Nicole McCue said, a finalist in the 60 meter hurdles.

Freshman Erika Sternard was able to take home one of the wins for the Warhawks with her first place finish in the high jump with a jump of 5’02.5”.

Amanda Brom won the 800 meter run with a time of 2:15, which is a new team best and a season best for the senior captain.

Senior Shelby Mahr took second in both of her events, the weight throw and shot put. Both throws were a new personal record for her and moved her into second in the country for both events. The girls that defeated Mahr were the No. 1 ranked players in the country at their events.

“It was pretty intense … it really drove us to get faster or jump higher or throw farther because when there is competition you always push yourself a little bit more,” McCue said.

During the meet, 36 of the 60 athletes competing set a new season high during the meet.

The Warhawks play again next on Feb. 21 at Stevens Point at the Big Dawg Invitational.