The Wisconsin men's track team qualified five distance runners and the 4x400 meter relay to the NCAA regional or national meets, while the women earned spots in the 10,000 meters and shotput at the Stanford and Auburn Invitationals last weekend.
Sophomore Ryan Gasper took fifth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase - which includes hurdle and water barriers - by running eight minutes and 47.39 seconds, a full 20 seconds faster than necessary to qualify for regionals.
He was the first collegiate finisher with four professional and unattached athletes taking the top spots. In the break-out performance of the weekend, Gasper shattered his 9:02.65 best from last year.
Sophomore Craig Miller earned second place in the Stanford 1,500-meter run in 3 minutes 43 seconds, about a half-second behind Stanford senior Russell Brown.
Sophomore Brandon Bethke ran 3:46.18 in the same race for 12th place. Andrew Lacy, also a sophomore, won the B"" section of the 1,500 meters in 3:45.54. The trio of sophomores each hit the NCAA regional standard.
Junior Matt Withrow and Katrina Rundhaug get to bypass regionals, as each hit the automatic NCAA national standard for the 10,000 meters.
In his first 10k on the track, Withrow finished the grueling, 25-lap contest in 28:26.25, 19 seconds faster than the standard for 10th place, and Rundhaug clocked in at 33:29.48, just meeting the 33:30 requirement.
At Auburn, the men's 4x400 meter relay team of Quinn Evans, Andrew Milenkovski, Luke Hoenecke and James Groce ran 3:09.08 for second place, qualifying for regionals. They finished three-tenths of a second behind South Carolina.
The final qualifying mark of the weekend came from junior Amanda Hoeppner, who placed second in the shotput, throwing 48 feet, 9 inches, nearly three feet better than last year's outdoor best.
Eight individual athletes from the men's track team placed at Auburn.
Sophomore Pat Nichols took second in the high jump, clearing 6-7 1'2.
Freshman Zach Beth placed third in the 800 meters, going 1:51.47, and UW's Eric Hatchell, Luke Rucks and Steve Ludwig each ran 1:52 for sixth through eighth place.
Jumper Rayme Mackinson jumped 23-8 3'4 in the long jump for fifth, and Jim Lierman earned sixth in the triple jump for going 48-2 3'4.
Sophomore hurdler Nate Larkin barely missed qualifying for regionals in the 110 hurdles with his 14.38 second-place performance, good for eighth place. At the Clemson Relays, Larkin finished in 14.36 seconds, just short of the 14.30 standard.
The women's team racked up 10 top-eight finishes, with the throwers picking up six.
In addition to her runner-up shotput effort, Hoeppner threw 171-6 in the hammer throw for fourth and 143-2 in the discus for seventh.
Senior Kayla Schultz was on the cusp of qualifying in each of her events. Schultz's 46-8 effort put her fifth in the shotput, three inches from qualifying, and her fifth-place 153-2 discus throw was two feet shy.
Junior Joanne Verpil threw 165-11 for sixth in the hammer throw.
For the second year in a row, junior Blair Luethermers won the pole vault at Auburn. She cleared 12-1 1'2, and teammate Shannon Schlack placed fifth at 11-7 3'4.
Freshman Egle Staisiunaite went 1:02.96 and took eighth in the 400-meter hurdles. The 400-meter relay team of Alexis Beecham, Akaila Cabell, Alex McCannel and Caitlin Dodge also placed eighth in 47.65 seconds.
