The Wisconsin women's track team picked up four NCAA Midwest Regional qualifying marks at the Drake Relays and Marquette Twilight over the weekend while three men's distance runners qualified at the Oregon Relays.
At Drake, junior Chavon Robinson jumped 42.5 feet in the triple jump to place third and earn an NCAA regional-qualifying mark. Her effort was the second all-time best jump for UW. Robinson also jumped 18-5 1 ' 4 in the long jump for 21st.
In the 400-meter hurdles, freshman Egle Staisiunaite and junior Carly Ducharme each hit the qualifying standard, placing 10th and 11th in 1:00.64 and 1:00.67, respectively.
Staisiunaite and Ducharme earned No. 9 and No. 10 on UW's all-time list.
Junior Megan Seidl cleared 5-8 3 ' 4 to tie for fifth in the high jump, while junior Jenny Soceka cleared 12-7 1 ' 2 in the pole vault for seventh.
Unfortunate for the rest of the team that competed at the Marquette Twilight, cold and windy conditions made qualifying nearly impossible in the running events.
Senior Kayla Schulz qualified for regionals in the shot put, throwing 47-7 1 ' 4 for second place. She also won the discus with a 157-7 throw, improving on her regional qualifying mark by 1-7.
Junior Julia Benson won the 100-meter hurdles in 15:00:27, and also came out on top in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:11.13.
UW won every sprinting event, as junior Alexis Beecham won the 100 meter dash in 12.38 seconds, junior Caitlin Dodge won the 200-meter dash in 25.86, and senior Kaitlyn Marsolek took first in the 400 meters in 59:00.24.
Freshman Aikaila Cabell took second in the 200-meters in 24:00.60 seconds and Nicole Slaby finished second in 59:00.90 in the 400-meters while Dodge went 1:01.04 for third.
Freshman Karlye Wolff also earned second in the 3000-meter steeplechase, going 11:30.60.
In the field events, sophomore Carrie Woltman earned runner-up in the high jump, clearing 5-3, while sophomore LaQuita Brazil jumped 38-10 1 ' 4 for second in the triple jump and 17-7 1 ' 2 for third in the long jump.
Men's recap
At the historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., the distance runners competed against many of the top collegiate athletes in the NCAA as well as some professional runners.
Sophomore Brandon Bethke was the first collegiate finisher in the 3000-meter steeplechase, completing the event in 8:46.88 for fourth overall, earning a Midwest Regional qualifying mark.
In the fast heat of the 1500-meters, sophomore Ryan Gasper hit a regional qualifying time of 3:44.91 for ninth place.
Gasper already qualified in the steeplechase, while Bethke qualified in the 1500-meter run.
Freshman Landon Peacock also qualified for regionals in the 5000-meter, running 14:08.38 for 12th place overall.
Two athletes just missed the regional standards.
Sophomore Tim Pierre was three seconds away from the steeplechase standard qualifying time with his 9:10.05 performance, good for third place in section two, and sophomore Andrew Lacy fell six seconds short of the 5000-meter standard, running 14:18.57 for 20th.
At the Drake Relays, sophomore Rayme Mackinson jumped 23 feet, 8 3 ' 4 inches in the long jump for sixth place.
Sophomore Nate Larkin took seventh overall in the 110-meter hurdles, improving his regional qualifying time to 14:00.23.
In the relay events, the 4x200-meter relay of Chas Demers, Luke Hoenecke, James Groce and Andrew Milenkovski finished third in 1:26.45, edging out Ohio State by 0.02 seconds.
The 4x800-meter relay team of Zach Beth, Luke Rucks, Eric Hatchell and Steve Ludwig went 7:31.36 for third place, behind UNI and Notre Dame.
Milenkovski, Demers, Groce and Rucks formed UW's sprint medley, which finished fifth in 3:24.64.
Also, the distance medley relay of Hatchell, Beth, Quinn Evans and David Pede went 9:58.34 for eighth.
Several athletes competed just outside of Drake, in Indianola, Iowa, in individual events.
Senior Derek Thiel cleared 15-5 1 ' 2 in the pole vault to tie for second. Earning runner-up status was sophomore Rory Linder, who threw 160-8 in the discus.
Senior Joe Pierre ran 1:56.34 for third place, while sophomore Victor Dupuy jumped 22-9 and placed fourth.
-uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
