The UW men's and women's track and field teams produced a slew of impressive performances to win six events Saturday in the Wisconsin Elite Invitational at Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center.
The women's team set seven new personal records - one of which was also a school record - and enjoyed numerous top-three finishes.
Junior Amanda Hoeppner provided a standout performance - she recorded a 'new personal best and broke the school weight throw record with her second-place finish of 57 feet 41'4 inches. The previous mark of 57-23'4 was set by Courtney Bauer in 2005.
Hoeppner also set a new personal record in the shot put to finish third with a throw of 49-33'4, behind senior Kayla Schultz who finished second '""at 49-71'4. These two marks rank third and fourth, respectively, on the Wisconsin all-time best top-10 indoor record list.
Freshman Egle Staisiunaite streaked home in 8.66 seconds to win the 60-meter hurdles. She set a new personal record and tied the third best time in the Wisconsin record book.
In the pole vault, junior Amy Dahlin won with a personal best of 12-51'2
'""and tied the third all-time highest indoor vault in Wisconsin history. Freshman Shannon Schlack tied her own personal best to finish third at 11-53'4.
Sophomore Hanna Grinaker led a top-three sweep in the women's mile. Grinaker won with a personal best of 4 minutes 56.57 seconds, followed closely by senior Katrina Rundhaug, who also ran a personal best of 4:56.85. Freshman Leah Coyle clinched the sweep after finishing third in 5:06.54.
Junior Chavon Robinson won two events for the Wisconsin team with jumps of 19-11'z2 in the long jump and 39-73'4 in the triple jump. She was followed by senior Venus Washington in the long jump, placing second at 18-41'4, and Jessica Jeremiah and LaQuita Brazil (3-3 3'4) placing second and third in the triple jump, respectively.
Other second place finishers include Ann Detmer in the 800 meters (2:11.81), Megan Seidl in the high jump (5-6) and Maggie Hippman in the 3000 meters (10:11.05).
Finishing third for UW were Alexis Beecham in the 200 meters (25.62), Sarah Hurley in the 800 meters (2:14.65) and Maggie Collison in the 3000 meters (10:16.34). Junior Caitlin Dodge finished fourth in the 200 meters in 25.89.
For the men's team, sophomore Nate Larkin took first in the 60-meter hurdles setting a new personal record of 8.03 seconds.
The UW men's 4x400 meter relay team of Andrew Milenkovski, Luke Hoenecke, James Groce and Zach Beth finished second with a season best time of 3:16.67.
Groce also claimed second place in the 200-meter dash in 21.96. Junior Matt Withrow took second for Wisconsin in the 3000-meter run with a finishing time of 8:15.54.
In the men's shot put, junior Chris Pressley finished second after a throw of 52 feet, 11 inches, while Jake Fritz finished third with 52-1 1'4.
Junior Steve Ludwig took second place in the mile with a time of 4:12.05. Eric Hatchell finished third in 4:14.91.
Sophomore Pat Nichols set a new personal best of 6-10 1'4 in the men's high jump to finish third.
David Grzesiak placed third in the heptathlon with a personal best total 5,220 points, which ranks him 10th on the Badgers' all-time list. The Brookfield, Wis., native finished fourth in the heptathlon pole vault at 14-1 1'4 and also placed second in the heptathlon 1,000 meters in 2:42.91. Both marks were personal bests.
The Badgers will compete again next Saturday at the UNI Invitational in Cedar Falls, Iowa, at the UNI-Dome.
