T.J. Leverentz/Winonan
The Winona State University track and field team kicked off their weekend with the Minnesota State Open on Saturday, Feb. 15, in Mankato, where the Warriors took home three wins, with wins in the 4×400 meter relay, weight throw and high jump.
The win in the 4×400 meter relay was the team’s third best time in program history with 3:51.56.
The relay team’s time also was good enough to be a provisional qualifying mark for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track Championship.
Elisa Kupferschmid earned a victory in the weight throw with a distance of 18.03 meters. That distance was enough to be a provisional qualifying mark as well.
The final Warrior win came in the high jump, where Alyssa Weiler tied the wining mark of 1.60 meters with Minnesota State’s Brianna Ziolkowski and Northern Iowa’s Chaley Rath.
Reagan Johnson also found the podium for high jump for the second meet in a row, finishing second by tying five other competitors, totaling distance of 1.57 meters.
Jordan Paschke was one of three other Warriors to take second in their respective events. Paschke posted a time of 5:21.79 in the mile run.
Hannah Mueller posted a distance of 5.44 meters to place second in the long jump. Mueller also had a 12th place finish in the 60-meter hurdles. Andrea Bartz continued her success in the triple jump with a second place finish thanks to a distance of 11.37 meters.
Annie Weinrich and Hailey Deschaine posted the other notable finishes in the triple jump.
Weinrich took fifth with a distance of 10.87 meters and Deschaine totaled a distance of 10.71 meters to earn sixth place honors.
The Warriors began their postseason at the NSIC Multi-Event Championship on Feb. 16 in Mankato.
Freshman Lindsey Lowe represented the Warriors in the pentathlon, where she finished 16th, opening competition of the NSIC Indoor Championship. She totaled 2,956 points. The winning total was 3,605, belonging to Duluth’s Amelia Maher.
The NSIC Indoor Championship will continue Feb. 28-March 1 in Bemidji, Minn. With the NSIC Indoor Championship meet looming less than two weeks away, the Warriors sent a lot of athletes to Mankato, unlike their previous meet at Stevens Point on Feb. 8.
Due to the long season, the Warriors battle nagging injuries throughout. Head coach Mason Rebarchek said the main goal is to have as many athletes as possible healthy for the conference meet.
In the conference meet the Warriors will take on the likes of Augustana and the University of Minnesota Duluth. As of Feb. 11, Augustana is ranked 24th and Duluth has cracked the top 15, moving up to 11th.
“A national ranking doesn’t indicate at all a team’s strength at the conference level. It only indicates how many people they have qualified for nationals,” said Rebarchek.
With the NSIC Indoor Championship approaching, freshman Brittany Dulak, said, “The season is really starting to get exciting. This is when you start to realize and achieve the goals you set in the beginning of the year.”
As for the health of the team, Rebarchek says his athletes are healthy and the ones who were rested last weekend during the Pointer Invitational are “chomping at the bit to compete again.”
