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Both Eagles teams brought 15 athletes — more than any other team — but neither men’s coach Brent Ericksen nor women’s coach Pat Healy are writing victory speeches yet.
The NCAA Division III Indoor Championships are today and Saturday at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind.
The UW-L men’s program has won six straight and 13 overall indoor titles. Ericksen said extending that to seven and 14 will be a major task with Lincoln (Mo.) standing in the way.
“Lincoln’s looking unbeatable,” Ericksen said. “They’re head and shoulders above everybody else and there are five or six other teams in a tough battle for second place. We’re in that mix at this point.”
Ericksen said first place would be more realistic for his team if it was healthy. The Eagles are missing two of their top athletes in sprinter/hurdler Marcus Walgrave and pole vaulter Alex Tapplin, and a handful of others will be competing at less than 100 percent.
For example, pole vaulter Matt Novak, ranked first with a season-best of 17 feet, ¾ inches, is fighting a sore left (plant) knee.
Bobby Riley (shot put) and the 1,600-meter relay team are both ranked second.
“We’ve got some work to do to steal something away from Lincoln,” Ericksen said. “I just wish we were ourselves. I don’t think you’ll get a feel for how strong we really are, but these guys are gutsy and they’re still giving everything they have.”
Healy said his 15-athlete contingent is the most he’s taken to a national meet.
“Hopefully that bodes well,” Healy said.
The fate of the Eagles women’s team could be decided by one event today: the long jump.
Five of the 15 athletes who qualified for that event are from UW-L. Sophomore Katie Fondow, senior Jena Durnin and sophomore Caitlin Schetter are ranked first, third and fourth, respectively.
“The long jump is a big event,” Healy said. “We’ll either go big in the long jump or it will be our downfall.”
Fondow (long jump, triple jump), Durnin (55, long jump), Schetter (long jump, triple jump), Ashton May (long jump, triple jump) and Kristen Painter (mile, distance medley relay) each qualifed for two events.
“We definitely have a chance to bring home quite a few
All-Americans and we’re in the mix to be one of the top teams,” Healy said.
