The University of Wisconsin men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the Sun Angel Classic over this past weekend in Tempe, Arizona. Both teams had several stand-out performers who put the competition on notice both Friday and Saturday.
Friday started with several impressive finishes for the men’s team, as freshman Kavanaugh FitzPatrick and junior Tucker Wedig both had top-five finishes in the 3000-meter steeplechase and hammer throw, respectively.
The day was topped off with a first-place finish for freshman Austin Glynn in the hammer throw finishing with a heave of 201 feet, 7 inches (61.44m).
On the women’s side, freshmen Hailey Orlowski and Jordan Hirsbrunner both finished top-five in their events. Orlowski’s best pole vault — 12-foot-half-inch (3.67m) — was good enough for third place in the competition, while Hirsbrunner finished fifth in the long jump with a 17-foot, nine-inch (5.41m) performance.
After such an impressive showing Friday, it was surprising to see an improvement from the team as a whole during Saturday’s competition as the bar was already set high.
The men’s track and field team had seven athletes finish in the top ten of their events, including junior Rashid Coulibaly, who posted a third-place finish in the pole vault with a clearance of 17-foot, five and three-quarters inches (5.33m).
As for the women, they had nine top-ten finishes, including a second place finish for sophomore Rayce Albino in the pole vault with a 13-foot, one and three-quarter inch (4.01m) clearance.
Sophomore Meagan Blair had two top-ten performances on her own, as she finished in sixth place for the long jump and fourth in the triple jump.
The women’s team also performed extremely well in the 4×100 and 4×400 relay races.
In the 4×100 relay, Meagan Blair, sophomore Gabby DesRosiers, freshman Armoni Brown and senior Ebony McClendon finished in fourth with a 45.71 second relay time, which also ranks third-best in school history.
In the 4×400 relay, DesRosiers, junior Haley Lubow, freshman Morgan Parzych and sophomore Bianca Stubler combined to run the 1600 meters in three minutes, 44.46 seconds. That finish by the quartet was good enough for ninth place on the day, as well as the ninth-best time in school history.
With the Badgers’ impressive team performance, there will definitely be excitement built up between now and their next meet.
Both the men’s and women’s squads will participate in the Bryan Clay Invitational from April 17 to 19 and the Long Beach Invite from April 18 to 20. Both competitions will take place in California.
