UW-Whitewater has, for a long time, had a great reputation when it comes to sports, and Lincoln Begin put it no different, “Growing up in Wisconsin, you always hear how good Whitewater is in what they do.” Begin, a freshman from Greenfield, has been a welcome sight for the Warhawks so far this track season, adding to the reputation he spoke about.
Throughout the indoor track season, Begin gradually put himself on the map in the long jump event, slowly getting better each and every meet. He first arrived on the scene during the Jan. 18 Firebird First Invitational where he finished with a 6.94-meter jump, good for second place in his first meet. From there, he competed in meets such as the Karl Schlender Invitational, the Leonard “Squig” Converse Invitational & Multi, the Midwest ELITE Invitational, and the Caged Eagles Invite, finishing at least fourth place in the long jump at each meet.
Head coach Mike Johnson gave high praise for the freshman.
“He’s a great teammate for starters,” Johnson said. “[He’s] very coachable and a positive influence every day at practice.”
In the most important meet of his UW-W career thus far, Begin saved his best jump for the right time. In the WIAC Indoor Championship, he jumped a career best 7.25 meters, which also represents a team-best this season. This earned him second in the long jump event, only behind Joshua Rivers, a junior from UW-Oshkosh. More importantly, this meant that Begin qualified for indoor nationals.
“It was definitely an awesome experience, coming into college you don’t expect to go straight out of high school to being an 18-year-old competing in nationals,” he said. “With the help of the coaches and the support of the team it was a really smooth process and definitely somewhere I want to be again. Very happy with how I competed and how I got here.”
At nationals he once again didn’t waste his opportunity, leaping 7.24 meters on his final jump of the meet to clinch seventh overall in the event and earning his first All-American award.
The sky’s the limit for Begin, and Johnson couldn’t agree more.
“I honestly don’t know where his ceiling is yet, but I know it’s high,” Johnson said. “It’ll be exciting to see where he goes from here on out.”
Whitewater had an indoor season gilded with success. Caleb Beightol, a sophomore from Belgium, Wisconsin, broke the school record during the Midwest Elite in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.71 seconds, breaking the record by 0.04. Marlon Cystrunk, the senior hurdler, also made history of his own in the same meet with a 7.98 run in the 60-meter hurdles, another program record. The Warhawks have had multiple top three finishes in many indoor meets this season, with their closest chance to a first-place finish at the Karl Schlender Invitational where they placed second among the eight teams participating.
With the indoor season finished, Whitewater and Begin are turning their attention to the outdoor season.
“In my previous years of track my indoor performance hasn’t always been the best, so being able to head into outdoor knowing that I placed seventh at nationals indoor is a big boost of confidence for me,” Begin said.
Begin and the rest of the Warhawk track team will look to have even more triumphant results during the outdoor season, and will be back in action April 4, right here at the Rex Foster Track.
