The UW-Whitewater track and field teams wrapped up their indoor seasons in Birmingham, Alabama with the men’s team finishing in the top 25 of the nation.

The UW-W men’s track and field team finished tied for 16th place with WIAC opponent UW-Stevens Point, while the women’s team had three top ten finishes.

The men were led by sophomores Christian Jackson and Alex Duff and senior Parker Witt. Jackson had the best individual finish for the Warhawks over the weekend with his fourth place finish in the 60 meter hurdles. Duff’s fifth place finish in the heptathlon combined with his eighth place finish in the 60 meter hurdles scored the Warhawks five points. Witt finished sixth in the 60 meter dash closed out the scoring for UW-W. Witt’s final time of 6.92 seconds was just 0.14 seconds slower than the national champion senior Jamal Watkins from host school Birmingham-Southern.

“Going into it you know it’s a big stage, but I just took it as a normal meet,” Duff said. “As I work my way toward outdoor nationals I just have to keep doing what I do and hope that everything falls into place.”

Junior Matt Green and sophomore Matt Jasinski also competed in the triple jump and pole vault respectively.  

The men’s team scored 13 total points while the winning team, Mount Union, scored 41. There were four men’s teams from the WIAC that finished the meet in the top 20, including UW-Eau Claire with a fourth place finish.

The UW-Whitewater women’s track and field team finished with two finishes inside the top ten and one tenth place finish to finish the weekend with two total points.

The relay team of sophomores Ashley Tijerina, Megan Hering, Abbie Felton and senior Enyo Amet finished in eighth place in the 4×400-meter dash with a time of 3:57.05. Senior Lindsay Chase recorded the best individual finish for the women’s team, finishing eighth in the weight throw. Felton rounded out the Warhawks’ top-ten finishes with her tenth place in the 400-meter dash. Amet also competed in the high jump, finishing tied for 16th.    

The women’s two points tied them for 56th place overall, finishing behind four other schools in the WIAC.

Seven Warhawks combined to earn eight All-America honors over the weekend. Witt earned the tenth All-American honors of his career and third in 60-meter dash. Duff earned two All-American honors in both of his events. The women’s 4×400 relay team also earned All-American honors.

The 16th place finish caps off a solid indoor season for the men’s team. The Warhawks closed out the indoor regular season by placing 2nd in the WIAC indoor championships. Three of the teams UW-W defeated in the WIAC Championships (Stevens Point, Eau Claire, Stout) went on to beat or to tie the Warhawks in the National Championships.

Now track and field will shift their focus on to the outdoor season which starts on March 24 in Rock Island, Illinois where both teams will compete at the Augustana Early Spring Opener.