While UW-La Crosse’s track and field program has honed quite the impressive résumé when it comes to the WIAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, UW-Platteville has built a strong reputation of its own in both the 1,500-meter runs and the women’s 4×800-meter relay.

Consistently continuing to dominate over it’s competition season in and season out, UW-L men’s team captured its 18th consecutive WIAC title on May 2 - 3 at UW-Eau Claire. The Pioneer men finished in fifth place out of nine teams, trailing behind UW-Stevens Point, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater.

The Eagle women also came out on top this past weekend clinching their 22nd conference crown in the last 32 years while the Pioneers settled for a seventh place finish, coming out ahead of UW-W and UW-Superior.

Although the final standings were not what either team from UW-P had hoped for, there was a glimmer of hope during the competition as the Pioneers produced five event champions.

As 15-time NCAA III All-American Marcia Taddy and 11-time NCAA III All-American Tyler Sigl line up for their respective 1,500-meter runs, one has to wonder what exactly is going through the minds of their competition. For the last four seasons at the conference championships, the two runners from UW-P have been a force to be reckoned with as both have gone undefeated in the 1,500 throughout their outdoor careers.

Taddy and Sigl each added two more titles to their ever growing list of accomplishments. Sigl defended his 5,000-meter title with a time of 14:49.73, and he led the 1,500-meter run all the way to victory in 3:56.41, while Taddy won the 800-meter run in 2:12.86 and the 1,500-meter run in 4:38.25.

Not only did she succeed individually, but Taddy was also a part of UW-P’s 4×800 relay team, which won for the fourth year in a row. With a time of 9:06.06, the quartet of Lindsey Vick, Emma Dreis, Jessica Scott and Taddy brought home another first place finish for the Pioneers.

Matt Bischoff’s school record-setting time of 21.93 earned him a second place finish in the 200-meter dash. Also earning second-team all-conference honors for the Pioneers were Ben Zizis who clocked in at 15.00 in the 110-meter hurdles, and Scott who ran the women’s 5,000-meter in 18:01.19.

Although the WIAC Championships are now a thing of the past, the Pioneers still have to maintain their focus as even tougher competition awaits at UW-O for the NCAA III Championships on May 22 - 24.