RIPON, Wis. – The Michigan Tech track and field squads saw school record performances from the men’s and women’s distance medley relays in an indoor track rust-buster at the Ripon Final Qualifier in Ripon, Wisconsin, on Saturday.

The women’s record-setting distance medley relay took to the take to open the day for the Black and Gold as Claire Endres, Reilly Loverchek, Cedar Gordon and Sophia Rhein soloed a 12:20.26, bettering the previous record set by Elizabeth Pietila, Amy Skraba, Rebecca Cangelosi, Shannon Bair in the outdoor season of 1999 by a notable 44 seconds.

The men’s distance medley relay team of Lucas Seng, Broderick Steward, John Paul Norland and Nik Thomas clocked a 10:20.77, which is over 12 seconds quicker than the outdoor distance medley record set by Chad Pollock, Mike Tuski, Kyle Lawton and Calvin Nitz in 2015 (10:32.47).

“We chose to open our outdoor campaign this year indoors as it allows us to start competing and shake off the cobwebs a little sooner than if we waited until there were outdoor meets in the region. Our season is so compressed, we want to be ready to show up with our best stuff right away once we get outside,” Huskies coach Robert Young said. “We accomplished that goal today and more. Our women’s DMR opened the day, setting what we hope to be the tone for our whole season. Breaking the track record en route to a win and a mark that eclipses the outdoor school record for the discipline was very exciting. The men followed suit with a record-breaking time of their own while uncontested immediately after, a perfect start to the day and season. Claire had a standout day, doubling back from the DMR to win the mile.

“Considering that we were in there mostly to get back to racing feel, it was great to see her close hard and win. In the 800m, we showed flashes of what we’ve been seeing in practice, that our freshmen women are going to be a force right now and into the future. Grace ran a very tactically sound race to win, while Brielle was hot on her tail with an eight second personal-best compared to her next-best official mark. The men’s 5k is where our depth was most clearly on display. Those guys working together and pulling each other along was a thing of beauty. Those races will set the table for big things to come later this spring.”

“The women’s team had an excellent opening to their track season. We are showing the results of our hard work already and I am very excited to see what’s next,” assistant coach Luke Moore added. “Our men’s team was lucky to have some stout competition in their races; and got a good taste of what is to come. We learned a lot about racing today and had some good breakthroughs.”

Gordon and Endres also won individual races in their second race of the day, with Gordon taking the 5,000m in 18:39.60 while Endres won the mile in 5:18.61, edging out second-place by half a second.

The men’s 5,000m showcased the depth of the distance squad as two Huskies broke 15 minutes with three others running sub 15:10. Tucker Ringhand was the top-finisher for MTU taking third overall in 14:49.12 with Michael Dennis close behind in 14:50.23 for fourth. Sawyer Fowler clocked a personal-best, nearing the 15-minute barrier with his time of 15:02.52, with Callen Carrier and Colman Lenci running 15:03.98 and 15:08.64, respectively.

Freshman Grace Folkema won the 800m in 2:18.38 as the Huskies placed within the top four.

Brandon Latta ran a personal-best over 800m, taking fourth in 1:55.78.

Jesse Henderson placed fourth in the men’s pole vault, clearing his first two heights on the first attempt, finishing at 14-02 for the day.

UP NEXT

The official outdoor season for the Huskies will begin on Mar. 27-29 at the WashU Distance Carnival/WashU Invitational.