Yellowjackets run away with second-straight UMAC men's outdoor track and field title
COLLEGEVILLE, Minn.---Since joining the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC), the University of Wisconsin-Superior has established itself as the team to beat in men's track and field. Heading into the weekend, the Yellowjackets had won the last two UMAC Championship events in the sport.
With a strong follow-up day to their opening performance Friday, the Yellowjackets made it three-straight titles and two in a row at the outdoor meet after holding off the rest of the field by 133 points Saturday. The University of Minnesota Morris was the next-best finisher at 115 points, while the College of St. Scholastica fell to third with 104 points.
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The Yellowjackets picked up three more event wins including a thrilling victory for senior sprint star Alexander Fathie. In the 400-meter dash. Fathie picked up his second win of the meet with a time of 50.71 and outraced Stefan Prince of Bethany Lutheran College who clocked 50.81. In 2017, Fathie won the 200-meter and 400-meter dash events at both the indoor and outdoor conference meet.
The other event wins for the Yellowjackets came courtesy of the 4 x 400-meter relay team that finished first with a time of 44 seconds flat and Alex Dzikonski who took the long jump crown with a jump of 6.25 meters (20-6.25).
One of two meet records went to North Central University rookie Grahm Johnson who captured titles in both the shot put and discus throw Saturday. Johnson broke Jeremy Peterson's record from last season in the discus with a toss of 48.82 meters (160-2). His mark currently ranks No. 18 in Division III. Johnson's win in the shot put came with a mark of 15.34 meters (50-4).
The other meet record went to a familiar name in Minnesota Morris' Chalmer Combellick. The senior certainly left his legacy on UMAC mid-distance winning the 1,500-meter run for the fourth time in his career. His time of 3:58.29 also broke his own record set in 2013. Combellick was a repeat champion in the event as well.
Another big UMAC performer had a solid finish to his impressive career as St. Scholastica's Jacob Gallagher won the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:43.6.
Noah Larson of Bethany Lutheran picked up his second win of the meet in high jump clearing 1.91 meters (6-3.25). He was also joined in individual conference glory by teammate Nicolas Bruss who took the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.08.
The University of Northwestern also had two event winners as the 4 x 100-meter relay squad defended its title from a year ago, while rookie Evan Pruitt out-sprinted the rest of the field for the 100-meter dash title with a time of 11.18.
Following the Saints in the standings, Bethany Lutheran earned 94 points while Northwestern was just six points behind with 88 points. Martin Luther scored 60 points, while North Central had 20 points and Crown College had 11 points.
2017 UMAC Championship site