Chippewa Valley Times

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's track and field teams performed notably at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Outdoor Championships, which commenced on Friday at UW-Oshkosh. A significant highlight from the opening day was Tommy Mestnik's victory in the men's javelin event. Mestnik, a senior from Prior Lake, Minnesota, secured the conference title with a throw of 54.79 meters. This marks the second consecutive year he has won this title at the WIAC Championships.

Several of the Blugolds achieved top-three finishes in their events. For the men, Mason Shea placed second in the steeplechase with a time of 8:51.50, Tommy Mestnik took first in javelin, and Yakob Ekoue secured second in the hammer throw with 58.93 meters.

The women's team also had top performers, including Keeley Behr, who finished second in the 10,000 meters with a time of 36:52.76, Reagan Zimmerman, who finished third in the same event at 37:12.6, Teagan Jones with a third-place finish in the hammer throw at 53.51 meters, and Anna Thaler, who took second in the long jump with 5.68 meters.

The day also saw several Blugolds advance through preliminaries to Saturday’s finals. Stefan Klechefski recorded the fastest time in the men's 100-meter dash preliminaries, with Blake Postler and McKenzie Kruse being top qualifiers in the men’s and women’s 400-meter hurdles respectively.

In the multi-events category, Jace Stolte is positioned third in the decathlon, and Lauren Dimler holds third in the heptathlon.

The championships will conclude on Saturday, May 3, starting at 10:30 a.m. at Titan Stadium.