MORRIS, Minn. – The Cougar track & field program opened up the 2019 UMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships with five first-place finishes Friday. After the first day, the Cougar women are in second with 94 points and the men are in third with 56 points.
"Simply put - Today was awesome," head coach Jessica Devine said. "There were a couple things that didn't go as planned and many things that went better than planned. It was great to see wins from Jessica Bliese in hammer and Jenica Moes in javelin. Emily Ciesynski captured the title in 400m hurdles and then to end the day with wins from both the men's and women's 4x800m relays was the icing on the cake, which included a school record on the men's side - perfect way to send us into day two strong. We stepped up and put ourselves in great position for tomorrow and are excited to see more outstanding performances."
Emily Ciesynski broke her own meet record in the women's 400-meter hurdles as she ran a time of 1:02.41 en route to her third conference title in the event.
Alexa Yeager, Kaitlyn Ladwig, Paige Stearns and Katherine Novak ran a time of 10:12.68 en route to a first-place finish in the women's 4x800-meter relay. Their time today ranks seventh all-time at UMN Morris.
Minutes after the women's 4x800-meter relay brought home gold, the men's relay of Andrew Stanek, Eddie Cease, Christian Thielke and Ryan Anderson ran a school record time of 8:13.24 to capture a first-place finish.
Freshman Jenica Moes brought home the title in the women's javelin throw with her toss of 115-4. Along with Moes, Jessica Bliese tallied a runner-up finish (107-1) and Adrianna Bibeau took fourth (91-8). Moes distance of 115-4 is the No. 4 mark in school history.
Minnesota Morris picked up 21 points in the women's hammer throw as Bliese won (160-0), Sierra Paske took fourth (135-1), Kari Didier placed fifth (124-7) and Brennyn DePaulis finished seventh (123-3).
Arre Langer ran to a seventh-place finish in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase with her time of 14:20.16.
The prelims of the women's 100-meter hurdles saw Ciesynski and Brooke Hogan each tally personal-best performances as they both qualified for the final on Saturday. Ciesynski had the top time (15.46) and Hogan had the No. 3 time (15.64) on the day. Ciesynski now ranks third all-time at UMN Morris and Brooke improves her No. 4 standing in school history.
In the prelims of the women's 100-meter dash, three Cougars advanced to Saturday's final. On the day for the Cougars, Olivia Salzwedel won heat two in 12.95 to auto-qualify and Brooke Hogan finished second in the first heat (13.37) to auto-qualify. Along with Salzwedel and Hogan, Jenna Benson advanced to the final on time (13.39). For Salzwedel, her time is a personal-best ranks seventh all-time in school history.
Justin Pearson took home a second-place finish in the men's 200-meter dash with a time of 22.47 and he also advanced to the final of the men's 100-meter dash as he won heat three in 11.10.
The Cougars scored 12 points in the women's 800-meter run as Novak finished second (2:20.11) and Ladwig placed fifth (2:28.17). In the school record books, Novak improved her No. 3 all-time standing and Ladwig improved her No. 8 all-time ranking.
Andrew Stanek recorded a fourth-place finish in the men's 800-meter run with his personal-best time of 2:01.08, which ranks ninth all-time at UMN Morris.
In the final of the women's 200-meter dash, Olivia Salzwedel (27.88) and Kim Olurankinse (27.93) finished third and fourth, respectively.
Jeffrey McEarchern placed runner-up in the men's javelin throw with his distance of 141-0, which seventh all-time in school history. Along with McEarchern, Justin Robinson picked up a point for the Cougars with a mark of 124-4.
In the men's pole vault, Zion Zaloudek tied his personal-best height of 12-7.5 to finish third overall.
In the women's long jump, Hogan and McKenna Vininski finished seventh (14-6) and eighth (14-5.75), respectively. Vininski also took seventh in the women's pole vault with a height of 9-5.
The men's hammer throw saw Trent Merkins and Alex Boyd finish second (149-6) and third (143-8), respectively. Robinson also picked up four points for the Cougars with a fifth-place finish in the men's hammer throw (140-1).
Day two of the 2019 UMAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships get underway at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 4, at the Cougar Outdoor Track.
Women's Team Results After Nine Events
1. Wisconsin Superior (95)
2. Minnesota Morris (94)
3. St. Scholastica (80.50)
4. Northwestern (20.50)
5. Bethany Lutheran (20)
6. Martin Luther (19)
7. Crown (13)
Men's Team Results After Nine Events
1. Wis Superior (93)
2. St. Scholastica (81)
3. Minnesota Morris (56)
4. Martin Luther (52)
5. Northwestern (29)
6. Bethany Lutheran (24)
7. North Central (2)
