TJ Leverentz/Winonan

The Winona State University track and field team began its outdoor season on March 28 with the Viking Olympics in Rock Island, Ill.

The Warriors scored 74 points to take fifth in the two-day meet despite competing in only five events.

Winona State had three athletes finish in the top four in discus. Paige Garriga placed second by recording a distance of 43.19 meters—just .46 meters from an NCAA Division II Outdoor Championship provisional qualifying mark.

Delaney Miller totaled a distance of 42.30 meters, and Caitie Zepczyk recorded 41.64 meters to take fourth.

Garriga and Zepczyk also competed in shot put. Garriga totaled a distance of 12.79 meters to earn second, and Zepczyk finished third with a distance of 12.47 meters.

Garriga also competed in the javelin, where she threw a distance of 30.69 meters to take fourth.

Two Winona State athletes finished in the top-three heptathlon, an event that Warrior head coach Mason Rebarchek said it requires a lot of athelticism to comepte in.

The heptathlon was spread out over two days and consisted of seven events. On Friday, the women did 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and the 200-meter dash. The heptathlon wrapped up Saturday with the long jump, javelin and 800-meter run.

Natalie Busher took second with a score of 3825, just 18 points out of first place, and Lindsey Lowe placed third with a score of 3799.

The Warriors had a two-week gap between the Indoor National Championship and the Viking Olympics.
Rebarchek called the time in between a “transition period.”

“You spend a lot of emotional energy in the final weeks of a season, and it really takes a toll on your body,” Rebarchek said. “We try to get our athletes recovered a little bit, but still try to stay fit.”

The Warriors had recovery activities over the two-week span. “We did a yoga class one day, then the next we’ll stretch, then the day after we’ll go on the elliptical- just the little things to keep the blood moving and help the body recover,” said Rebarchek.

As the Warriors begin another outdoor season, Rebarchek said he hopes for good weather, improvement and for the team to stay healthy.

In terms of his athletes’ health, Rebarchek said outdoor track usually does not force as many nagging injuries, such as shin splints, as indoor track does. This is because indoor surfaces are harder and have tighter turns than their outdoor counterparts.

Rebarchek also added the air outside is better to compete in because “it’s fresh air. It’s not the dry stale air you get when you compete indoors. It’s a good adjustment getting outside.”

Garriga agreed. “I’m ready to get outside and compete, especially after the winter we have had,” she said.

The Warriors were projected to finish fifth in the NSIC by a coachs’ poll. The poll has the University of Minnesota-Duluth projected to win the conference.

Jessica Young and Hannah Mueller were also selected as the Warrior athletes to watch this outdoor season.

The Warriors will be back in action on Saturday, April 5, when they travel to La Crosse, Wis. to compete in the Ashton May Invite. The early forecast calls for partly cloudy skies and a high of 44 degrees with a zero percent chance of rain.