Oshkosh, Wis. – In the final regular season test before the MWC Championships, the Red Hawks made the short trip to UW-Oshkosh for the competitive 17-team Titan Challenge. Ripon had 7 top-5 finishes on the day and recorded 16 Top-10 All-Time performances, 41 Personal Bests and 1 school record.
Dameco Walker continues to show his versatility on the track and in the field as he established a new school record in the Triple Jump, in addition to records he has already set this year in the Long Jump, 200m and as a part of the 4x200 relay. The record in the Triple Jump has stood since 2007 by Demba Camara, until Walker leapt out to 45'6.25 (13.87m) on his final attempt to break the record by 2 inches. He also set a new PR in the 400m running 50.96 seconds which moves him up to sixth all-time.
Walker also teamed up with
Jacob Jumbeck,
Rainier Villanueva and
Wyatt Lowrance to finish third in the 4x400 relay with a time of 3:30.80, which moves them up to fifth all-time in school history. In addition to the 4x400, Jumbeck and Lowrance also set new PR's in the 800m of 2:00.06 and 2:01.38 to move up to seventh and tenth all-time.
The highest individual finisher on the day for Ripon came from senior
Payton Rahn as she continued her PR streak in the 400m, this time lowering it to 61.25 seconds to finish third overall. That time also ranks sixth in school history. Rahn also teamed up with
Makaila Weddle,
Emma Spalding and
Devin Ibarra to place fifth in the 4x400 relay with a time of 4:18.97, which also ranks ninth all-time at Ripon.
Weddle has also been on a hot streak lately, this time lowering her personal best in the 800m from 2:25 down to 2:21.73 to finish in fifth place and move her up to second all-time.
Junior
Mikayla Flyte has been running well all year at distances ranging from 800m to 5000m, and on Saturday established the fastest time in the MWC in the 3000m in route to a new personal best and placing fifth overall. Her time of 10:50.77 is the fastest in the MWC by four seconds and moves her up to fifth all-time in school history.
Sophomore jumper
Kara Block had the other top-five finish for the Red Hawks as she equaled her personal best height in the High Jump of 4'11.5 (1.51m) to take fifth overall. That height is tied for second in the MWC and ranks tenth in school history.
Other Red Hawks establishing top-10 all-time performances were
Arynn Mathieu (4th – Weight Throw),
Jonah DeCleene (7th – 3000m),
Grace Engebretson (7th – 3000m), Rahn (8th – Triple Jump),
Alison DeNamur (10th – 3000m) and
Niko Martinez-Ortiz (10th – 3000m).
Ripon will travel to the Midwest Conference Indoor Championships next week hosted by Knox College, the first Indoor Championship since 2020. Earlier this year, both the men's and women's teams were picked to finish second in the annual coaches poll. The highest finish for the women's team at the Indoor Championships is third in 2020 (103.5 points) and 2005 (92 points). On the men's side, Ripon has finished as high as third place five different times (2011, 2013, 2016, 2006 and 1984), with their highest point total coming in 2011 with 114 points. More information on the 2022 championships can be found at midwestconference.org.
