Vincent and Zdroik Advance in 1,500; UW-L Relay Advances

For Immediate Release: Thursday, May 21, 2009

Marietta, Ohio – UW-La Crosse's Dallas Vincent and Paul Zdroik advanced to Saturday's 1,500-meter run final in Thursday's preliminaries at the 2009 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Don Drumm Stadium at Marietta College.

Vincent tied for the best prelim time in the 1,500-meter run, finishing at 3:53.64 with Ty Griffin of Mount Union College (Ohio) and Wade Ekstrom of Macalester College (Minn.). The time of 3:53.64 also set a facility record.

Zdroik recorded the eighth-fastest qualifying time at 3:53.94 and will also run in Saturday's final.

UW-L's 4x100-meter relay of Zach Lee, Paul Yerhot, Matt Gordy and Alex Rooker advanced to Saturday's final after recording the fifth-fastest time (41.25) in Thursday's preliminaries.

UW-L did not record a team point in Thursday's opening day of action. UW-Oshkosh and McMurry University (Texas) are tied for the team lead in the men's standings with 14.0 points. Concordia University (Wis.) is third with 11.0 points while Rowan University (N.J.), Keene State College (N.H.), SUNY-Cortland and Buena Vista University (Iowa) are tied for fourth with 10.0 points.

In other action Thursday, the Eagles' Brad Peterson failed to advance in the 400-meter hurdles final after running 53.20 in the prelims. UW-L's 4x400-meter relay also failed to advance to the final after the relay of Rooker, Peterson, Ryan Mendez and Yerhot went 3:15.24.

Action continues Friday at Marietta College.