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Pointers Hope
Familiar Surroundings Leads to Success at Indoor Nationals
The UW-Stevens Point
men�s and women�s track and field teams will be in familiar surroundings
and hope to finish in a familiar position at this weekend�s NCAA
Division III indoor championships in Whitewater.
The Pointers will be
sending 11 athletes to the national meet. The men�s team has six
individual qualifiers in five events as it looks to continue success
after top seven finishes three of the past four years. The women�s team
has five individual qualifiers in four events and one relay as it hopes
for a strong finish after placing 20th last year. Of these 11 athletes,
most could earn points as nine are ranked in the top 10 in the nation in
their respective event.
The meet begins Friday
at 10:30 a.m. and continues Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Kachel Fieldhouse
complex.
Senior Curt Johnson is
the highest ranked UW-Stevens Point runner, ranking fourth in the men�s
5000-meter run. He�ll be joined in the race by teammate Mark LaLonde,
who has the ninth best time in the meet. Both ran their fastest times
this year on the UW-Whitewater track in a meet that featured six of the
12 national participants.
Senior Andrew Schliepp
brings in the nation�s fifth best time in the 55-meter hurdles. With the
seventh best time in the 800-meter run, junior Matt Legel returns to the
national meet. Legel and Schliepp are the only two male athletes who
will be returning to the national meet in track events.
Only two people in the
nation this season have beat out senior Mark Wierzba, who is currently
ranked third in the 35-pound weight throw. Wierzba is attempting to
become the second straight Pointer, and second straight Rosholt native,
to win the event after Noah Eschenbauch won last year�s national title.
Freshman Mitch Ellis is ranked ninth in the high jump.
On the women�s side,
four individuals will each be competing in an individual event and the
distance medley relay. Junior Megan Craig is the highest ranked female,
with the sixth-best time in the 1500-meter run. She will also be
competing with the women�s distance medley relay along with teammates
Leah Herlache, Jenna Mitchler and Marie Burrows. The Pointer relay is
seeded ninth.
Herlache will also be
running in the 1500-meter run where she currently holds the 11th best
time. Mitchler will be heading into the 800-meter run ranked eighth in
the nation, while Burrows will look to earn points in the 400-meter run.
Junior Julia
Slabosheski is the lone female participating in field evens for
UW-Stevens Point. She earned a spot at the national meet in the shot put
and enters the meet ranked 10th nationally.
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