The UW-Whitewater men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in a multitude of Last Chance Meets across Wisconsin and Iowa. Athletes looked to improve their season-best totals in an effort to qualify for the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championship March 13-14 in Birmingham, Alabama.
10 athletes picked up season bests at these meets, including nine men and one woman. The Wartburg Qualifier saw the majority of these bests, including seniors Drew Davey and Rhett Reuter and freshman James Belus all hitting season bests in the 800-meter run. Davey had the best time of the three with a 1-minute-and-54.79-second run. Sophomore Matthew Andreano recorded his season best in the mile run (4:21.82), and the 4×400 relay with seniors Brad Heller and Chris Kalies, sophomore Jack Erickson and freshman Gabe Ubert recorded their best time (3:17.46).
Senior Katie Erb recorded her career-best run in the mile at Wartburg, posting a top-10 finish with a 5:02.42.
The other four athletes who recorded season bests did so at the Carthage Firebird Finale. Freshman Landon Scray jumped 1.98 meters in the high jump, freshman Sam Gentz threw 14.08m in the shot put, and sophomore Landon Martin and freshman William Hodgins threw 12.82m and 12.72m in the shot put, respectively.
Following the Last Chance Meets, focus shifted toward the NCAA selection show March 8. Three athletes made the meet: junior Caleb Beightol and sophomore Sam Vargas in the 60m, Vargas in the 200m, and senior Dan Anderson in the 5,000m. Events will begin at 10 a.m. March 13.
