RIPON, Wis. – Both track and field teams played host for the 4th Annual Red Hawk Invitational on Saturday as the women finished third overall out of 12 competing teams behind UW-Milwaukee and UW-Oshkosh, while the men finished sixth overall and third among NCAA DIII teams. Altogether, the Red Hawks turned in 53 season bests and 11 Top-10 All-Time Performances.
Senior
Payton Rahn had part in three of those Top-10 performances as she raced her way to a new lifetime best indoors in the 400m, placing fourth in 61.65 seconds as the top DIII competitor. That performance moves her up to sixth all-time. She also ran a leg on two relays that finished in first and second place on the day. The 4x200 Relay team of Rahn,
Kara Block,
Kynaeda Gray and
Emma Spalding raced to the second fastest time in school history to win the event in a time of 1:48.29, which also ranks fastest in the Midwest Conference so far. The 4x400 relay team of Rahn, Spalding,
Grace Engebretson and
Makaila Weddle closed out the meet finishing second overall with a time of 4:17.51, which is the sixth fastest relay in school history.
Relay teammates Weddle and Spalding also had a breakout performances of their own in the 800m and 200m. Weddle raced her way to a third place finish in in the 800m with a time of 2:25.73 (4th fastest all-time and tops in the MWC so far), while Spalding had a season best in the 200m to finish as the top-DIII athlete in a time of 26.76 seconds.
A duo of freshmen jumpers had big days as
Cade Gray and
Wyatt Lowrance placed their names on the all-time performance lists. Gray had a big personal best mark in the Long Jump as he leapt out to 22'6.25 (6.86m) which is fourth all-time, while recording the fifth farthest Triple Jump all-time of 44'1.25 (13.44m). He ranks top-4 in the MWC in three different field events (Long Jump, Triple Jump, Pole Vault). Lowrance debuted in the High Jump as he cleared 5'11.5 (1.82m) to rank himself ninth all-time and third in the MWC so far.
Two Red Hawks racing the 3000m had breakthrough performances, as juniors
Sam Forstner and
Mikayla Flyte both placed top-3 overall. Flyte went under 11:00 for the second time in her career as she lowered her personal best to 10:56.90 to set the fastest time in the MWC so far this season and sixth in school history. Forstner broke through the 9:00 barrier for the first time ever as he finished second in a time of 8:59.69 (seventh all-time).
Junior thrower
Arynn Mathieu continued to show big improvement as she recorded her first ever 14.00m toss in the Weight Throw, landing on 14.00m (45'11.25) exactly, which moves her up to fifth all-time at Ripon. Teammate
Kalyn Otzelberger threw a season best of 39'3.25 (11.97m), and third farthest in the MWC, in the Shot Put on her final throw of the competition.
Next Saturday at 11:00 am the Red Hawks will host the annual Dick Hendricks Invitational, honoring the late Ripon Cross Country and Track & Field Coach. That will also serve as senior day as 10 Red Hawks will partake in their last home invitational. The final home competition of the year will be the NCAA Final Qualifier on March 4-5.
