While the rain was coming down in Arkansas and Monika Jakutyte was flying back to Madison to win twice in one weekend, history was made at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational. The distance runners from The Wisconsin men's and women's track and field teams posted some of the best times in school history. In the rain-shorted Arkansas Twilight, Jakutyte and Jamie Klages, placed first and second in high jump respectively. At home in Madison, both UW teams were able to win a combined 21 events and post NCAA regional qualifying marks.
Men's track
The big news of the weekend came from Palo Alto, Calif., after Craig Miller and Jack Bolas set career highs in the fastest 1,500 meter race in college track of the year at the Payton Jordan Invitational.
Bolas had the third fastest time in UW history and Miller recorded the fifth best time ever by a Badger.
After losing a tight race last weekend at the Drake Relays, junior Ryan Gasper ran an 8:43:42 to place first in his section of the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The rain wiped out most of the events at the Arkansas Twilight for the men's track and field team. The 4x100-meter relay team managed to take home fourth place in one of the few events in Fayetteville.
At the Wisconsin Open, the Badgers were dominant, ending up with 11 event victories. Freshman Mickey DeFilippo came just shy of having the best pole vault height in Wisconsin track history by clearing the bar at 17.75.
Other winners included Rob Dehn at javelin, and Nate Larkin, who ran a 14.28 in hurdles, an NCAA qualifying mark.
The Badgers will stay in Madison next weekend for the Wisconsin Twilight.
Women's track
Women's track and field high jumper Monika Jakutyta went sky high to win two high jump events during her victorious weekend.
Jakutyte won two high jump events in two different parts of the country this weekend. Only a freshman, Jakutyte was able to win the high jump at the Arkansas Twilight on Friday and fly home Saturday to take first at the Wisconsin Open.
After tying her personal best of 5 feet 7 inches in her victory at Arkansas on Friday, she was able to set a career high at the Wisconsin Open the next day. Jakutyte set a personal best of 5 feet 10 inches, a NCAA qualifying mark.
""Today I was just trying just to get 5-9 because I was so close last night, and I did a little more than that,"" Jakutyte said.
Underclassmen Jessica Flax and Egle Staisiunaite swept the hurdle events, winning the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles.
In the Payton Jordan Invitational, senior Gwen Jorgensen qualified for her third postseason event by running a 15:52.19 in her first 5,000-meter race of the year. Her time was the fifth fastest in school history.
Distance runners Sarah Hurley and Hanna Grinaker followed Jorgensen's footsteps, posting NCAA Regional marks for their second events in the postseason. Hurley ran a 10:38.95 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and Grinaker's 16:40.65 was good enough for a regional qualifying mark.
—uwbadgers.com contributed to this report.
