RIPON, Wis. – The Red Hawks enjoyed the familiar confines of the fieldhouse at the Willmore Center as they recorded a meet for the ages hosting the annual Dick Hendricks Invitational. Both the men and the women earned team titles, totaling 11 event wins, 51 personal bests, 20 Top-10 All-Time performances and 4 school records on the day.
Makaila Weddle,
Emma Spalding and
Payton Rahn and
Kara Block shined through having part in five event wins. The quartet blistered the track in the first event of the meet setting a new school record in the Sprint Medley Relay (200-200-400-800). Their time of 4:16.55 lowered the previous record by five seconds and ranks second in the nation across all NCAA divisions.
The men also saw a breakout relay performance as the 4x200 relay group of
Dameco Walker,
Jacoby Cefalu,
Ben Fisher and Steven Klika teamed up for the first time and set a new school record of 1:32.24 in the process. Walker also had quite the day in his individual events as he set a school record in winning the 200m dash with a time of 22.52, while also winning the Long Jump with a distance of 6.89m/22'7.25.
Freshman
Cade Gray also had a strong meet as he jumped a new school record in the Pole Vault of 4.40m/14'5.75, while winning the Triple Jump (44'3.5/13.50m) and taking second in the Long Jump (22'3.5/6.79m). Completing the Red Hawk 1-2-3 sweep in the Long Jump was Fisher as he leapt out to a new PR by over a foot going 21'9.5/6.64m.
Spalding had a busy day on the track winning every event she entered. In addition to the SMR, she teamed up with Rahn, Block and
Kynaeda Gray to win the 4x200 relay, while also winning the 60m and 200m dashes. The 4x200 relay still holds the top time in the MWC, while Spalding ranks fourth and second in the 60m and 200m dashes. Rahn also recorded a PR in the 200m dash of 27.16 seconds which moves her up to third on the MWC performance list and tenth all-time at Ripon.
After running a 2:22 split in the SMR 800m leg, Weddle came back a few hours later to run a lifetime best in the Mile to win the event in a time of 5:25.60, which ranks as the sixth fastest time in school history. The Mile run was a big event for the Red Hawks as they recorded five of the top-8 places.
Mikayla Flyte battled for all 8 laps and finished nearly even with Weddle for second place in a time of 5:25.86 (seventh all-time). Teammates
Natalie Pakosz,
Grace Engebretson and
Isabelle Willett finished fourth, sixth and seventh in times of 5:29.08 (ninth all-time), 5:33.93 and 5:38.59.
The Women's Weight Throw duo of
Arynn Mathieu and
Kalyn Otzelberger went 1-2 in the event setting new lifetime bests, while both moving inside the top-5 all-time in school history. Mathieu went over 14.00m for the second week in a row throwing 14.18m/46'6.25, while Otzelberger had a big PR throwing 14.12m/46'4. They now rank fourth and fifth all-time in that event.
The other event win came from the Men's 4x400 relay team of
Jacob Jumbeck,
Rainier Villanueva,
Christian Kuwaye and
Wyatt Lowrance as they gapped the field winning in a time of 3:35.47. Individually, Jumbeck and Villanueva ran to lifetime best times in the 800m of 2:01.00 and 2:01.56 to finish 2-3 in the event and move them onto the top-10 all-time list (eighth and tenth overall). Lowrance also finished third in the 400m with a new PR of 52.28 to finish third and move onto the top-10 all-time list (tenth).
The Red Hawks will have one more regular season meet next Saturday Feb 19 at UW-Oshkosh before heading to Knox College on Feb 25-26 for the 2022 Midwest Conference Indoor Championships. The final meet at the Willmore Center for the indoor season will be the Ripon NCAA Final Qualifier and Multi on March 4-5.
