Dillon Hogan/Winonan

Now fully in the swing of things, the Winona State University track team had their biggest test of the new year this past weekend. On the road in Mankato for a two-day track meet, the Warriors managed to win three races and had just as many runners with NCAA qualifying numbers.

Over a two-day period beginning on Friday Jan. 25, the Warriors looked to improve upon last week’s strong meet with quite possibly their stiffest competition of the year so far.

Coming into the weekend as the 2nd ranked overall Division II shot-put thrower in the Nation, Junior Alissa Rausch was not going to disappoint. Rausch ended up finishing second overall in the shot put while putting up a mark which would qualify for the NCAA championship.

Rausch has thrown the shot-put far enough to qualify for the NCAA championships in every meet of the season.

Sophomore Jessica Young set a new Winona State record in the 3000 meters, winning the event with a time of 10:13:60. The previous record was set by Tracy Nelson 26 years ago with a time of 10:15:10.

Head coach Mason Rebarchek is looking forward to challenges ahead with the experience that the team brings to the table.

“We have an amazing group this year; we have 12 seniors, which is more than I can remember there ever being,” Rebarchek said. “The leadership on this team is impressive, and it really shows. We have a very solid team, and I can honestly say that there are no uninteresting events or races for us to watch and compete in.”

Also putting up qualifying numbers was Kelsey Bethke in the 400-meter race, and for the second week in a row Bethke took home the win in the 400.

In the other 400 race, the 4×400 meter, the team of Bethke, Catherine Whitcomb, Katie Bagley, and Brittney Rynda ran for the win and put up a time fast enough to meet the requirements for NCAA championship contention.

To go along with her 4×400 meter win Bagley also claimed the 600 meter victory. And in doing so, she managed to break the previously held school record in the 600 with a time of 1:37.08.

Rounding out the place finishers for the Warriors were Sarah Finley and Abby Albers finishing second and third respectively in the 60 meter race, while on the event side of the meet Taylor DePerry logged a second place finish in the high-jump.

“I feel the team competed very well, and we are always trying to make our marks better, higher and faster,” Rausch said. “I am really excited that we are making great progresses with the depth of our team and that we are improving every week.”

Prior to the meet, Rebarchek expressed enthusiasm for the remainder of the season.

“I’m super excited for the meet,” Rebarchek said. “The last few weeks we were facing smaller schools and meets with only four schools present, but this week around half of the teams present were Division II and there are also 4-5 conference teams present. The last two meets were good warm-ups for us, but this week was what we hope to be our first meet for improvement and to keep building up from here.”

The Warriors are in action next weekend in Stevens Point, Wisconsin for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointer Open.

Contact Dillon at [email protected]