Mother nature may have been trying to hold back UW-Platteville’s men’s and women’s track and field teams on April 13, but the Pioneers did not let a little wind stop them from a top-notch performance in less than favorable conditions.

Hosting a slew of tough competition in the form of some of the nation’s elite teams at this weekend’s Nike/Impact Sports UW-P Outdoor Invitational, the Pioneers managed to conjure up four first place finishes.

Men’s and women’s squads from Wartburg College, UW-Oshkosh, Loras College and the University of Dubuque, in addition to the men’s team from UW-Stevens Point and the women’s team from UW-La Crosse, joined the Pioneers to participate in the second-ever meet held on UW-P’s outdoor track.

Although the harsh weather may have affected some people’s performances, others did not let it get to them.

“Everyone was complaining about how cold and windy the weather was, but you can’t let the weather affect your performances,” senior Tyler Sigl said. “Lots of people struggle with the different elements from the weather.”

“You have to mentally prepare yourself for rain, snow, wind or sun. You never know what the weather is going to be like, so you have to prepare yourself for everything.”

The Pioneers dominated the 1,500-meter races, sweeping both the men’s and the women’s races with two NCAA Division III provisional qualifying times.

Sigl took first for the men with a time of 3:53.39, while Marcia Taddy in normal fashion trumped her competition, finishing in 4:34.39, with her nearest competitor trailing 14 seconds behind.

“I definitely like outdoor meets better,” Sigl said. “I consider myself a strong runner, so when the weather elements make a turn for the worst, I almost always gain an advantage over my competition.”

Photograph by Kate Olsen

Other provisional national qualifying performances came from Mitch Spees in the 400-meter hurdles and Corey Digman in the discus and shot put.

Although Ben Zizis said the cold, windy weather did have an effect on his performance in the 110-meter hurdles, he still managed to walk away with a first place finish with a time of 15.43 in spite of the strong head wind.

The women’s team also had a few solid first and second place finishes. Liz Baker came out on top in the women’s 100-meter dash, winning in 13.15 seconds, among the Pioneers placing second were Alison Ross in the 400-meter hurdles and Jessica Scott in the 800-meter dash.

Matt Bischoff broke a school record with his time of 21.89 in the 200-meter race, also earning him a second place finish.

“The weather was not ideal, but sometimes you have to work through it,” sophomore pole vaulter Spencer Hollis said.

Windy weather permitting, the Pioneers’ new outdoor home could arguably be considered one of the nation’s finest and fastest tracks.

“Coach always tells us that we should host a good meet because the people will more likely come back,” Zizis said. “We have an outdoor track, and it’s probably one of the fastest tracks in the Midwest if not in the nation.”

“Our track facility is one of the best setups in the nation with having the indoor track connected to the outdoor track,” Sigl said. “On top of that, our track seems to be a fast track.”

With the indoor track so close to the outdoor, the question of where is the teams’ favorite place to run comes into play.

“I am more comfortable outside, and I always get better starts outside,” Zizis said. “I don’t know why I just like being in the open air.”

“Running outdoors is so much nicer than running indoors,” Sigl said. “The benefit of running outdoors is all of the fresh air, and you have to run a lot less laps. The outdoor track is twice as big as the indoor track, which makes for half of the laps to equal the same distance.”

“We performed pretty well in the conditions,” Hollis said. “To do well at Augustana we’ll have to run well on a hard track with some difficult competition.”

The Pioneers will hit the road this weekend traveling to Rock Island, Ill., for the Augustana Meet of Champions on April 18 - 19.