The UW-Whitewater women’s track and field team competed in their final home meet of the year when they hosted the Drake Alternative Meet. While the match was originally scheduled for April 26, it took place a day prior on Thursday, April 25, to avoid rainy conditions. Fourteen teams competed in the meet including several familiar WIAC opponents. For the Warhawks, this was a good opportunity to face a large pool of opponents before the WIAC Outdoor Championships.
“I’m looking forward to being up against people in the conference. Our conference in one of the best in Division III so you go in with the mindset that you’re already against some of the best runners,” said senior Distance Paige Fassbender.
Fassbender took the top spot in the 1500m after trailing a couple of strides with Hallie Hoger of UW-Parkside earning herself a mark of 4 minutes 49.37 seconds.
“With 200m I got passed. Typically, it’s been a struggle for me this year where sometimes I get passed and it’s hard to react or I’ll have a delayed reaction so today, with 200 meters left I felt like I had enough time to react,” Fassbender said.
The weather for the outdoor season, which started in late March, hasn’t been perfect. It’s one of the struggles of starting in the transition period from winter to spring. It’s an adjustment that all track and field athletes have had to make, especially with the championship meets coming up in the next couple of weeks.
“I thought it was really good,” said Fassbender on her time in the 1500m. “Going into the season, I ran it at our opening meet and it was kind of a struggle with the cold and the wind. Today we had a nicer day so it was a good opportunity to take advantage of the nicer weather.”
In the other running events, sophomore Danielle Pouska took first in the 200m dash running a time of 25.86 which was good enough to beat Gianna Borzileri of Dubuque who finished with a time of 26.09.
Jacqueline Kornowski finished with the top time for the Warhawks in the 100m dash taking third place running a 12.61. In the 300 steeplechase freshman Abby Motz ran a personal best time of 12:32.53 making for one the most exciting moments of the day.
As the Warhawks get prepared for the WIAC Outdoor Championships next week they along with their WIAC opponents should all be hitting their stride with their endurance and training levels.
“It’s later in the year, so their fitness continues to increase,” said head coach Mike Johnson. “We have more events [in the outdoor season] so we have some athletes on our team that are specialists more in outdoor events so that where they can make some headway. The indoor seasons prepare them for the outdoor season.”
The complete list of results from all the track and field events can be found on this website. For now the Warhawks look to get prepared for the final stretch of their season.
