UMAC Indoor Championships

The University of Wisconsin Superior narrowly trailed after day one of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Indoor Championships on Friday night and would finish in second place behind the event hosts The College of St. Scholastica. CSS finished with 194.5 team points, following by the Yellowjackets at 171 points, and Bethany Lutheran College at 132.5

Junior Svenja Ruehl (Kirchuers, Germany/Gymnasium Philippinum Marburg) reigned for UW-Superior throughout the event, beginning with a championship finish in the long jump. Ruehl leaped 5.26 meters to stand atop the podium in her premier event, then went on to claim two more first place finishes Saturday as well as a second-place finish. Ruehl reigned victorious in the 60-meter dash with a career-best and meet record time of 0:08.08 and did the same with a personal and meet record in the triple jump, leaping 11.63 meters. She finished second in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal record time of 0:09.46, edging out freshman teammate Maria Mazo (Hendaye, France/Irungo La Salle) who finished third at 0:09.60.

Friday night also saw sophomore Taylor Phillips (Superior, Wis./Superior H.S.) find her way to the podium in the weight throw, finishing second with a toss of 14.33 meters. Freshman Mikaela Shepard (Blaine, Minn./Blaine H.S.) leaped a personal-best 1.45 meters for a third-place finish in the high jump. Phillips stood atop the podium on Saturday as she won the shot put with a toss of 11.99 meters. Sophomore Valerie Rowe (Ironwood, Mich./A.D. Johnston H.S.) posted another title-winning performance for the Yellowjackets with a personal record pole vault leap of 3.12 meters.

Ruehl was not the only strong performer on the track for the Yellowjackets. On Friday night, the UWS 4-by-200-meter relay team finished second with a season-best performance of 1:51.01 and the Yellowjackets followed that up with a second-place finish in Saturday's 4-by-400-meter relay at 4:13.16. Freshman Leann Torgerson (Two Harbors, Minn./Two Harbors H.S.) and Rowe each posted career-best times to finish second and third, respectively, in both the 400 meter run and the 200 meter dash. Torgerson edged out Rowe in Friday's 400m, finishing at 1:00.74 to her 1:01.57, while Rowe finished second in the 200m at 0:26.91 to Torgerson's 0:27.13. Sophomore Kelli Praska (Eagan, Minn./Eagan H.S.) posted a pair of second-place finishes Saturday, finishing the mile at 5:26.93 and the 800-meter run at 2:28.59.

UP NEXT
UW-Superior athletes will look to qualify for NCAA Indoor Nationals at next week's Last Chance Qualifier hosted by the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point on Sunday, March 5. Action gets underway at 10:30 a.m.