RIPON, Wis. – The Red Hawks officially kicked off 2022 on Saturday as they hosted the annual Red Hawk Opener at the Willmore Center, highlighted by a school record and multiple top-10 performances all-time.
Junior jumper
Dameco Walker made his 2022 debut in the long jump one for the record books as he jumped out to 23'2.5/7.07m, breaking his previous school record set in 2020, en route to winning the event. Walker also placed fifth in the 400m while running anchor on the fourth-place 4x400 relay team.
Fellow juniors
Mikayla Flyte and
Natalie Pakosz also re-wrote the record books as they paced each other to new lifetime best performances in the Mile. Coming around the last lap they went stride for stride as Flyte crossed the line in 5:29.89 with Pakosz crossing in 5:29.93, which now rank #8 and #9 all-time in school history.
Senior
Payton Rahn continued to chip away at her personal best in the 400m, as she lowered her new best time to 62.56 seconds while placing third overall at the meet and moved up to #7 all-time. That performance also sits atop the Midwest Conference honor roll. In addition to that performance, she also ran anchor on the fourth-place 4x400 relay.
Senior
Makaila Weddle also made her way on to a top-10 all-time list as she ran her first ever indoor 3000m race, finishing with a time of 11:11.57 to place fourth overall.
Junior
Emma Spalding (Karpinski) continued her strong start to the season in the short sprints as she recorded two top-three finishes on the day as she placed first in the 200m (27.13 seconds) and third in the 60m (8.11 seconds).
Sophomore
Ben Fisher placed well in the high jump as he tied for first, clearing 1.91m/6'3.25. Other top-three finishes on the day came from freshman
Rainier Villanueva (800m, second, 2:04.16), freshman
Wyatt Lowrance (800m, third, 2:05.32).
The Red Hawk men return to competition on Friday January 28 at the Squig Converse Invite at UW-Whitewater (5:00 pm start), while the women travel to UW-Whitewater on Saturday for the Warhawk Classic (Noon start). That will be followed by two home contests on February 5 and 12.
