In what turned out to be a fairly successful day for the Vikings, the men’s track and field team took fifth place in a field of 12 and the women’s team took sixth place out of 11 teams. Both teams competed in the Warrior Invitational at Wisconsin Lutheran last Saturday.
Leading the charge for the women’s team was junior Rose Tepper who jumped 5’2″ in the high jump en route to a first place victory. Tepper outjumped the competition by two full inches and reaffirmed her place as one of the top high jumpers in the conference.”Rose has been getting better week by week,” remarked Head Coach Jason Fast. “Although we were all proud of her for her finish to the indoor season, she is a competitor and she wants to get back to the NCAA Championships as she did last year during the indoor season.”
Freshman Anna Bolgrien took 6thplace overall in the women’s 200m dash, taking some time off from her normal hurdling duties. She also anchored the 400m relay that took sixth overall, which also included freshman Sam Luebke, Tepper and freshman Kassidy Rinehart. Freshman Katie Barie took seventh place overall in the 400m dash with her time of 1:06.64.
On the men’s side, junior Sam Stevens once again led the charge for the Vikings. Taking second place overall in the 800m run, Stevens led a pack of Lawrence runners that included sophomores Mike Mangian and Dan Thoresen, who took fourth and sixth, respectively. Mangian was able to cross under the 2:00 barrier, running 1:59.25, something he’s tried to do several times this year. “It was a huge barrier broken for him,” noted Fast.
Also scoring for the Vikings were sophomore Kevin Fitzgerald, who took seventh overall with his time of 4:26.61 in the 1,500m run, and freshman Kyle Dockery who took second in the 5,000m run with his time of 16:23.
Senior Tom Coben also placed in the 5,000m run, taking fourth overall with his time of 16:57. Senior Stan Jablonski took sixth in the shot put and eighth in the discus with his throws of 41’04” and 122’6″. The 1,600m relay team also took fourth with their time of 3:36.13; the team consisted of junior Justin Barbour, senior Cam Blegen, Stevens and Thoresen.
The team will travel to Green Bay this weekend to compete in the St. Norbert Invitational.