The men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the WIAC Indoor Championships Saturday, with the men placing second while the women finished fourth.
On the men’s side, first-place finishes included freshman Mike Judd in the 60-meter hurdles and the 4×200 meter relay consisting of freshman Luke Wenham, sophomores Dylan Crafton and Nick Bee, and junior Dave Kuczynski.
“All the members of my team ran really well and I couldn’t have asked for more out of them,” Bee said. “Coming in first in the 4×200 and breaking the school record had to be the highlight of the meet for me.”
Judd won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.13 seconds, surpassing the previous school record of 8.19 seconds set by Jon Schellins in 2007.
“I couldn’t be any more proud to say I’m a part of this team,” Judd said. “The effort each person gave this weekend was unforgettable. Second place isn’t too shabby for a team that was definitely underdogs heading in.”
Junior Marcus Smith took second in the triple jump by setting a new school record with a distance of 49-07.75.
He broke the previous record held by Rob Thompson (1999) and Aaron Henderson (2004), which was a distance of 49-06.25.
“I performed pretty well coming off an injury and then being able to break the school record,” Smith said. “I was really proud of the way the rest of the team performed in their events.”
For the women, junior Shelby Demos got things going by breaking the school record time in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing third in 9.01.
Junior JoLyn Owen took second place in the pentathlon by scoring 3,176 points.
The 4×200 meter team composed of freshmen Lexie Sondgeroth and Courtney Windisch, junior Kelsey Jones and senior Kristen Heitsman finished in fourth place with a time of 1:45.76. Shattering the previous school record of 1:46.02 set in 1997.
“Everyone on the team did great and I believe that all the hard work paid off for us,” Sondgeroth said.
The next step for the teams are the NCAA Championships, which will be held March 9 in in Grinnell, Iowa.