The 2018 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships started off as expected with the University of Wisconsin-Superior turning in a solid set of opening performances to take a solid lead following competition Friday in Superior.
The defending champion Yellowjackets scored an impressive 91 points while the College of St. Scholastica sits 27 points back with 64. In order to take the lead, the Yellowjackets compiled three impressive event wins including a sweep of Friday's relay events.
In the distance medley relay, the Yellowjackets crushed the field by 17 seconds to capture the title. The squad of Edward Carlson, Matt Carlson, Rand Bieri and Evan Walpole clocked a time of 11:00.15 to add to the team's lead.
Immediately following that victory, the team of Joseph Olinger, Noah Potratz, Cole Gelhar and Alex Dzikonski captured a win in the 4x200-meter relay in 1:33.89.
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Fauston Wirtz headlined the men's field events for the Yellowjackets. The event-favorite took the top spot with a toss of 14.28 meters (46-10.25) to hold off Trent Merkins of Minnesota Morris, who was just 8.25 inches off of the winning mark.
St. Scholastica picked up three titles as well with two coming in field events. Rookie Aaron Pulkrabek bested the long jump field with a jump of 6.29 meters (20-7.75), while Frank Cerar cleared 1.83 meters (6-0) to win the high jump. The top men's track performance from the Saints was courtesy of Isaac Boedigheimer who recorded a time of 15:28.55 in the 5,000-meter run.
Minnesota Morris came in third after the first day with 48 points. Sprinter Justin Pearson anchored the Cougar effort winning the 400-meter dash with a time of 51.32 that held off Stefan Prince of Bethany Lutheran College by 0.13 seconds. Pearson also clocked the top 60-meter dash prelim time with 7.13.
Bethany Lutheran sits fourth in the men's standings with 29 points while the University of Northwestern.
The remainder of the meet will finish up Saturday with field events begin at 11 a.m. in Superior. All championship information can be found on the UMAC Championships site including live results, ticket information and meet schedule.
