UW-L Third After First Day of WIAC Championships; Riley Captures Shot Put

For Immediate Release: Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009

Menomonie, Wis. - The UW-La Crosse men's track & field team is in third-place after the first day of competition at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Indoor Championships at UW-Stout's Sports & Fitness Center. The Eagles have 37.0 team points. UW-Oshkosh leads with 43.0 points with UW-Stevens Point second with 40. UW-Eau Claire is fourth (35.0) followed by UW-Whitewater (33.5), UW-Plateville (22.5), UW-Stout (20.0), UW-River Falls (3.0) and UW-Superior (0.0).

UW-L's Bobby Riley captured the shot put for the third straight season (57-0 1/4) Saturday while Bill Warren finished third (51-4 1/4) and Andy Novak sixth (50-4 3/4). Riley automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships with his winning mark while Warren provisionally qualified.

The Eagles' distance medley relay of Zach Wilhelmy, Paul Yerhot, Mitch Wilson and Dallas Vincent placed second (9:59.90). The relay automatically qualified for the national championships.

In other field event finals Saturday, Jeremiah Burish was third in the pole vault (15-3 3/4) while Jason Prochow tied for sixth (14-10) and Dave Pergande was ninth (14-10). Jessie Dengsavang placed eighth in the long jump (21-1 1/4).

Nick Stone finished eighth in the pentathlon (3,033 points) while Connor Lonning finished 12th in the 5,000-meter run (15:16.72).

In preliminary track events Saturday, Jamar Jackson advanced to Sunday's 55-meter hurdles final after running 7.87 in the prelims. Matt Gordy (6.49), Zach Lee (6.51) and David Sikorski (6.52) advanced to the 55-meter dash championship while Gordy (22.48) and Alex Rooker (22.50) advanced in the 200-meter dash.

Rooker (50.49), Ryan Mendez (50.69) and Yerhot (50.89) will each compete in Sunday's 400-meter dash final.

For complete results, click here.

Action concludes Sunday, March 1 at the WIAC Indoor Championships.