UW-Whitewater’s men’s track and field program won the Leonard “Squig” Converse meet, scoring 154 points. UW-La Crosse was the runners-up with 112 points. Events that Whitewater particularly dominated in were the 3000-meter and the 400-meter runs.
Kobe Chandler finished first place in the 400-meter run by a mere .02 seconds ahead of UW-Stevens Point sprinter Mason Mead, and helped his team win the 4×400 meter relay.
“I don’t run races as best as I do by myself so I like it when someone is there pushing me,” said Chandler in response to the photo finish.
Besides him, Chris Kalies, Brad Heller and Jack Erickson all finished in the top six for UW-W in the 400-meter run. Brad’s 50.87-second fourth-place finish was a personal record time.
Meanwhile, everyone in the top six of the 3oo0-meter run has Whitewater ties to some extent. First and second-place finishers Justin Krause and David Fassbender are Warhawk alumni, Tucker Johnson, Alex Metko and Conner Murphy currently attend UW-W, and Craig Hundley transferred from Whitewater to Carthage College. Johnson, Metko and Murphy all finished with personal records; Johnson had the best of the three with an 8:36:96 time. With their three best distance runners at the John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston, these results prove the depth of this long-distance roster.
“We have interchangeable parts that give us lots of different options… seeing how we’re doing compared to a year ago answers questions for us so that we can figure out where to place our pieces for the conference championship,” said head coach Mike Johnson regarding their depth.
The Warhawks also had success in the 60-meter events. Caleb Beightol took first place in the 60-meter finals at a personal best of 6.76 seconds and Myles Anderson got second place with a season-best 6.86 seconds. Marlon Cystrunk also finished first in the 60m hurdles with an 8.18 second season record. With Whitewater’s top two hurdlers Cystrunk and Tamir Thomas both seniors, it’ll be interesting to see how their coaching staff develops sophomore Tristan Ropiak and other new recruits.
With that in mind, young blood is making their presence felt in the program. Freshman Lincoln Begin got third place in the long jump with a 6.86-meter leap. When asked if this performance boosted his confidence, head coach Johnson said, “We’re still trying to figure out where his ceiling is. I know it’s up there, we’re not close to it yet. He’s been consistently doing some good things already.”
Begin and heptathlete Josiah Cross are the only freshmen to finish top five in their respective events. Cross tied for third in the heptathlon high jump and fourth in the heptathlon 60m sprint.
The Warhawks have a diverse range of upperclassmen and underclassmen playing significant roles in the program, and seeing them come together to win gold in the meet should help boost their confidence heading into the conference championships and beyond.
“A lot of people did good today across all the events so I feel like it was a good starting point. I think we have a lot to prove right now,” said Kobe Chandler.
Since many runners are juniors and seniors, it’s no surprise that they feel pressure to improve and set high standards for newcomers. Their next meet will be the Feb. 8 Big Dawg Invite and the WIAC indoor championships will start Feb. 28.
