The men’s track and field team won their fifth straight UMAC championship on Saturday, March 6. UWS finished with 143 points, topping the field by 54. Photo by Holden Law.
The UW-Superior men’s indoor track and field team won its fifth consecutive Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) championship at the Burns Wellness Commons on the campus of St. Scholastica on Saturday, March 6.
“I’m so proud of our men in their efforts today,” head coach Glen Drexler said. “Once we put in our entries, we don’t have much opportunity to change anything, so we put them in expecting a very close contest. There is some good talent in this conference – we just had good depth and a lot of guys who showed up and performed well.”
The Yellowjackets scored 143 points, running away by 54 points. UWS used four event wins and their depth to pull away. Northwestern and Minnesota Morris finished second and third, respectively.
Tyler Finger (Clintonville, Wis./Clintonville) won the 800-meter run in 2:04.85, Brett Goplen (Hugo, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran Academy) took the 60-meter hurdles in 9.08 and Andrew Grabarkewitz (Grand Rapids, Minn./Grand Rapids Senior) won the pole vault with a vault of 3.70 meters (12 feet, 1.5 inches). The 4×200-meter relay team of Mitchell Peterson (Foley, Minn./ Foley), Steven Pearson (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior), Evan Westimayer and Lennon Shimon (Albert Lea, Minn./Albert Lea Senior) won that event in 1:35.88.
Grabarkewitz paced Superior individually, scoring 24 points on the day. He also ran second in the 400-meter dash in 52.34 and third in the 200-meter dash in 23.46.
Derrick Moe (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet) completed a 1-2 finish for UWS in the 800, clocking a time of 2:04.91 for eight more points. Isaiah Arntson (Esko, Minn./Proctor) was fifth in the race in 2:09.62 for another two points.
The ‘Jackets scored 13 points as a team in the 5,000-meter run. Alex Fike (St. Paul, Minn./ Harding Senior) finished third at 17:29.53, Connor Nelson (Rockford, Ill./ Rockford Lutheran) was fourth at 17:38.37, Travis Gee (Minocqua, Wis./ Lakeland Union) was fifth at 18:38.87 and Josh Porter (Osseo, Wis./OsseoFairchild) placed sixth at 19:23.73. “We had some great PR performances,” Drexler said. “We had some plain old gritty performances, too, but through it all, our guys worked very hard for this win and I’m very happy for all they put forward to earn this.”
Nate Ohman (Lake Nebagamon, Wis./Northwestern) was sixth in the shot put with a mark of 12.31 meters (40 feet, 4.75 inches). Tanner Lee (Siren, Wis./Siren) finished second in the weight throw with a mark of 14.67 meters (48 feet, 1.75 inches) and Brock Phernetton (Frederic, Wis./ Frederic) was sixth with a heave of 13.44 meters (44 feet, 1.25 inches).
“I think we’re really fortunate to have had this opportunity,” said Drexler. “When we started talking about the season, we weren’t sure we’d get through a single meet. So, to complete a season and get a championship meet, it’s just really special.”
