The UW-Platteville men’s and women’s track and field teams have each enjoyed successful seasons, and they are happy about qualifying nine Pioneers to nationals which will be held March 14 and 15 in Ada, Ohio.

Pioneers who will be leading the charge to nationals will be returning All-Americans Marcia Taddy, Tyler Sigl and the WIAC pole vault champion Scott Howard. Taddy, a fifth year senior, won the mile and 800-meter; Sigl, a senior, won the mile and placed second in the 5,000-meter; and Howard, a junior, won the pole vault event at the WIAC Indoor Conference Championship

Taddy has been on the track team for four years at UW-P, since transferring from UW-Madison after her freshman year. Taddy was recently named the WIAC co-athlete of the meet at the Indoor Conference meet. She is also a member of the women’s cross country team.

Sigl has been a member of the track and field and cross country teams at UW-P for all of his four years and won the 10 kilometer race at nationals last year, and is looking to place again this year.

“Team wise we performed well, hopefully they will continue to get better each year,” Sigl said. Sigl has also been an All-American five times during his time at UW-P. All-Americans in track and field are those who place in the top eight during the season.

“I was excited about this season,” Sigl said, “It’s my last one, so everything that comes needs to be exciting and not to regret anything once the season is over. After this, I can’t compete collegiately, so I am on my own.”

After it is all said and done, Sigl looks forward to the awards banquet at the national meet. “It’s nice to relax, have supper and talk to the other athletes,” Sigl said.

Howard, the first Pioneer to win the conference championship in the pole vault event since 1991, has something to be very proud of.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Howard said. After having a hamstring injury for four weeks, trying to recover and then to win is exciting.

Howard has been participating in track since junior high and is a provisional qualifier for the pole vault event. He ƒwas on the bubble to see whether or not he qualified automatically and then competed in the Last Chance Meet at UW-Whitewater to improve his height. His biggest accomplishment was when he came back from an Achilles tendon injury last May and was in rehabilitation over the summer to be ready to compete this season.

Other Pioneers who qualified for nationals were Jessica Scott, Cam Klein, Adam Buss, Tony Kilburg, Liz Baker and Alison Ross.

“Marcia Taddy has the top two times in the country for both the 800-meter and mile and Jessica Scott has the second best time in the country for the 800-meter,” Paul Erickson, sports information director, said.

Sigl, Buss, Klein and Kilburg will be competing in the distance medley relay team while Baker, Ross, Scott and Taddy will be competing in the 4 x 400 event.

The Pioneers head to Ohio hoping to repeat on excellent finishes in the past like last seasons’ fourth place finish for the men’s team and fifth place finish for the women’s team. With leaders such as Sigl, Howard, Taddy and Scott on the team, the Pioneers seem to be poised for another great finish and to be in contention for the national title once again.