RIPON, Wis. – In their final competition weekend in preparation for the Midwest Conference Championships both the Women and Men swept the Red Hawk Spring Showdown hosted at Ingalls Field. The women doubled up on second place Beloit and Lawrence with 161 points, while the men were clear of second place Lawrence by 65 points. Altogether the Ripon won 22 events between the men and women.
Starting off the day on the track was a school record performance from the women's 4x100m relay team of
Jenna Erickson,
Payton Rahn,
Emma Spalding and
Kara Block. On Friday at UW-Madison they ran 48.79 seconds, just 0.02 seconds off of the record, and on Saturday ran 48.68 seconds to break the record set last spring, held by
Callista DeCramer, Block, Spalding and
Camrie Schmitz. Spalding and Erickson also recorded personal bests in the open sprints, as Spalding moved up to #2 all-time in the 200m (22.50 seconds) and Erickson up to #7 all-time in the 100m (12.79 seconds).
Also competing at UW-Madison on Friday was sophomore
Kalyn Otzelberger, as she hit a big personal best in breaking the school record in the Discus, held by Hall-of-Famer Jenni Marcell set in 2007. Otzelberger's record throw of 138'7 (42.24m) ranks her top-25 nationally in NCAA DIII. In addition to Friday's school record toss, Otzelberger swept the throws on Saturday winning the Discus, Shot Put and Hammer Throw.
On Saturday in the men's sprints, freshman
Jacoby Cefalu had a breakout day as he had part in three event wins. In the 100m he cleared the field by 0.27 seconds to win with a time of 11.04 seconds. In the 200m he also ran to a personal best, winning by 0.63 seconds with a time of 22.20. His performances now rank him top-10 all-time in school history (#4 in the 200m and #8 in the 100m). He also anchored the 4x100 relay to victory in a time of 42.59 seconds, teaming up with
Logan Vander Galien,
Jaden Watt-Martin and
Dameco Walker, to move up to second all-time.
Other double event winners for Ripon were Nate Wosmek in the 110m and 400m Hurdles and Rahn in the 400m and Triple Jump. In addition to Rahn's record run in the 4x100 relay, she won the 400m in a time of 61.30 seconds while setting an outdoor season best in the Triple Jump of 33'11.25 (10.34m) which ranks #10 all-time. Making his debut in the 100m Hurdles, Wosmek ran to a time of 15.84 seconds which ranks first in the MWC so far and #7 all-time in school history.
On Friday at UW-Madison Junior
Dameco Walker emerged victorious in the Long Jump with a distance of 23'11.5 (7.30m) by over a foot, while running the third fastest time in school history in the 200m crossing the line in 22.14 seconds.
Rounding out the event wins in Saturday's sweep of the meet was
Wyatt Lowrance in the 400m and High Jump,
Miles Kremsreiter (800m),
Rainier Villanueva (1500m),
Garrett Radtke (5000m),
Cade Gray (Pole Vault), Men's and Women's 4x400 Relay, Spalding (Long Jump).
Next up for Ripon are the 2022 Midwest Conference Outdoor Championships May 13-14 hosted by Beloit College. The Red Hawks are coming off of their first ever team indoor titles in pursuit of their first women's outdoor championship and the first for the men since 1924.
