RIVER FALLS, Wis. – The Yellowjacket men's track and field team competed in the Winter Classic Saturday, hosted by the Falcons of UW-River Falls. The event's name is quite fitting for the weather the Midwest has received over the last week, as the snowfall forced a handful of teams within the region to adjust their schedules and travel plans.
 
This wasn't the case for the Yellowjackets, however. Saturday saw Superior display a strong showing inside the Robert P. Knowles Field House, resulting in a slew of top-ten finishes, two first-place wins and a bundle of PR's.
 
Meet Notes

• Beginning with the 60-meter dash, freshman sensation Jesse Ortiz (Medford, Minn./Medford) led the preliminary 60-meter dash with a 7.05 race time. Not far behind him was Will Schorr (Superior, Wis./Superior), who placed fourth with a time of 7.10 seconds. In the finals, Ortiz finished second with a time of 7.03 seconds, and Schorr grabbed fourth trailing by just .06 seconds.
• Last week at the Warren Bowlus Invite, Ortiz nearly broke the program record in the 200-meter dash, coming just .13 seconds off the mark. Saturday's race saw Ortiz break former Yellowjacket Ethan Westimayer's (Laona, Wis./Laona) record time of 22.66 seconds set in 2023, as the freshman finished the 200-meter dash in 22.57 seconds. Furthermore, this stands as a new personal record for Ortiz.
• Cracking the top ten in the race was Tucker Briggs (Superior, Wis./Superior), logging a 23.94 race time in the 200-meters for a PR of his own.
• The Yellowjacket duo of Marshall Swanson (Ashland, Wis./Ashland) and Ethan Ashworth (Danbury, Wis./Webster) took sixth and seventh place, respectively, in the 400-meter dash. Swanson logged a 56.36 while Ashworth garnered a 56.71 race time.
• Dylan Uitto (Ashland, Wis./Ashland) finished the 800-meters in 2:02.79 seconds for a first-place spot. Zach Reese (Zimmerman, Minn./Spectrum) followed in fourth place at 2:05.49, wihle Aidan Doherty (Wild Rose, Wis./Wild Rose) (2:06.57) and Ben Plackner (Bovey, Minn./Greenway) (2:07.14) followed in sixth and seventh place.
• A quartet of Yellowjackets placed in order in the mile run. Doherty took third at 4:28.75, while Uitto (4:29.15), Reese (4:29.15) and Plackner (4:33.02) crossed the line next.
• Cracking the top ten was Maverick Hoogland (Catawba, Wis./Phillips), logging a 4:44.49 in the mile, as well.
• The 3,000-meter run saw Kieran Johnson (South Range, Wis./Northwestern) and Jayde Canfield (Prescott, Wis./Prescott) garner sixth and seventh place finishes. Johnson finished in 9:44.13 while Canfield logged a 9:45.94.
• Earl Foster (Forest Lake, Minn./Spectrum) took home a second-place ranking in the 60-meter hurdles after coming just .01 second away from the top spot. His time of 8.78 was followed by Joseph Kamara (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) who took sixth at 9.14 seconds.
• Foster took sixth in the high jump after garnering a mark of 1.80 meters. Chance Davis (Superior, Wis./Superior) followed in seventh leaping to 1.65 meters.
• Shifting to pole vault, the 'Jackets saw Lynch in third (4.18 meters) while Jackson Fiamoncini (Ashland, Wis./Ashland) (4.03) took fifth place.
• The long jump featured Will Schorr (Superior, Wis./Superior) who took second place after a 6.51-meter finish, while Davis took fourth in the triple jump at 11.83 meters.
• Throwing events featured Carson Wilhorn (Necedah, Wis./Necedah), Cameron Wegner (Superior, Wis./Superior), Bo Waletzko (Superior, Wis./Superior), Blake Rossman and Fabian Rosales (Washburn, Wis./Washburn) all compete. In the shot put, Wilhorn took sixth (12.31 meters) before Wegner and Waletzko followed (12.08/12.06 meters). Rossman took tenth at 11.65 meters while Rosales heaved the shot an even ten meters.
• Wilhorn, Wegner and Waletzko took third through fifth place in the weight throw, finishing with marks of 14.92 meters, 13.81 meters and 13.60 meters respectively.
• The Yellowjackets received a unique opportunity towards the end of the UWRF Winter Classic. Superior, alongside the other meet entrants, submitted both men's and women's runners in a mixed 4x400-meter relay race. 6 teams out of 20 were representatives of UW-Superior, and the top relay team finished 11th overall in 4:16.86.
• In total, the Yellowjacket men garnered 17 personal records on the day.

 
The Yellowjackets return to action next week as they host the annual Maday Classic. Events are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m inside the Dr. Lydia C. Thering Fieldhouse.