The Lawrence University Track and Field Team competed this weekend at the University of Wisconsin Stout in the Warren Bowlus Open. The team competed against many teams throughout the Midwest including Stout, UW Eau Claire, UW Superior, Ripon, Winona State, and University of Minnesota Duluth.
As it was an open meet, there was no official team scoring. However, the Lawrence team had many top finishers on both the men’s and women’s sides.
Going into the meet, the Vikings were excited for the opportunity to compete and demonstrate their improved fitness.
“There were a lot of teams there who were really close to us in terms of levels and abilities,” says junior sprinter Bjorn Gowdy-Jaehnig. “Having that competition there really pushed us to be competitive with the people we knew we could beat.”
Overall, the Vikings competed well and were able to put many competitors in the top positions. On the women’s side, freshman Erin Schrobilgen took first place in the entirely Viking run 5 kilometer race with a time of 19:14.
Another race where the women’s team were prominent was the 800 meters where freshman Noelle Hele took third with a time of 2:26 followed by sophomore Kate Kilgus in fourth in 2:29. The highlight of the women’s field events was freshman Sage Greenlee who took third in the high jump with a jump of 4 feet 11 inches.
The men’s competition also had many highlights, most notably freshman Ethan Gniot who was able to edge out his Ripon competitor by .06 seconds to take the victory in the 800 with a time of 1:58.64. To get a sense of how close and exciting that finish was, if Gniot’s nose was smaller he would have lost that race.
Also placing well was junior JP Ranumas who took fourth in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.99. The Lawrence 4×400 meter relay consisting of Ranumas, Gniot, junior Tyler Herman, and freshman Stephon Berry also finished fourth out of 11 teams with a time of 3:35.81.
Members of the track team on both the men’s and women’s side were happy with the results of the meet. Gowdy-Jaehnig reflects: “We did well overall, we ran well, didn’t make any mistakes in the relays, and it was great to see teammates and parents cheering the team on.”
Moving forward, the Vikings look to continue to train hard in the difficult weather and to be competitive at meets. The Vikings will compete this weekend at UW-Stevens Point in the Stevens Point Invitational.
“Stevens Point is a great meet because this is the first time that we will see a lot of conference teams,” says Gowdy-Jaenig. “Looking forward towards the Conference meet we need to be competitive with those teams and really show them what we have and see what they have as well.”