The Valparaiso University track & field teams got their season running on Friday with the Blue & Gold Invitational, an indoor meet hosted by the University of Notre Dame. Junior Sierra Fischer (Brookfield, Wis./Brookfield) had a pair of Top 4 finishes for the women in her Valpo debut, while junior Ben Sekuloski (Lowell, Ind./Lowell) led the men’s team in two events. 

How It Happened

• Fischer cracked the Top 3 in the women’s 200-meter dash, taking third at 26.32. Her time ranks fifth in program history, edging out Patricia Kloth’s fifth-place time of 26.37 from 2008. Fischer became the first Valpo runner to crack the program’s Top 5 in that event in the last five years.
• Fischer also took fourth in the 400, coming across at 1:00.11.
• In the men’s 400-meter dash, Sekuloski finished seventh and broke 50 seconds, coming in at 49.94.
• In the 200, Sekuloski again led the pack of Valpo runners with a time of 23.03. He was followed closely by Emanuel Daggett (Hammond, Ill./Gavit) at 23.09 and Taylor Allen (Zionsville, Ind./Zionsville) at 23.17.
• Sophomore Will Maidment (Woodstock, Ill./Woodstock) had three attempts in the high jump and cleared 6-3½.
• In the women’s weight throw, Lauren Mikolajczak (Bloomingdale, Ill./Montini Catholic) led the squad, finishing sixth with a toss of 50-9½. Fellow sophomore Hayley Krulik (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) took home eighth, throwing 45-11¾ .
• In pole vault, senior Kyle Baker (Essex, Vt./Essex) finished third in the event by clearing 14-5¼.
• In the women’s long jump, junior Anne Mou (Bloomingdale, Ill./Lake Park) took home sixth with a mark of 15-9½, and fellow junior Shannon Lahey (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) went 14-11½.
• Mou and Lahey represented Valparaiso in the women’s triple jump as well, posting marks of 34-11 and 33-0½, respectively.
• TJ Weinzimmer (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) hopped, skipped and jumped for 42-4 in the triple jump.
• In the men’s weight throw, junior Jake Rasawehr (Celina, Ohio/Celina) finished fifth with a toss of 49-8¼. Senior Quinten Holley (Goshen, Ind./Goshen) threw 41-10.
• Rasawehr also led Valpo in shot put, finishing fourth with a throw of 47-7¾.
• Weinzimmer posted the best mark on the team in the long jump with a 20-3½, finishing 10^th. Aaron Clark Jr. (South Holland, Ill./Thornwood) placed in 11^th with a mark of 20-3, while Malik Riley (Romeoville, Ill./Romeoville) leapt for 19-11.
• Running unattached, Alexander Bruno (Bloomington, Ill./University) finished second in the 3,000 meter run with an impressive time of 8:11.63. The Valpo record in that event was set by Aaron Crague in 2001 at 8:18.49.

Up Next

The Valparaiso track and field team will be back in action on Jan. 19 at the Sycamore Team Invitational hosted by Indiana State University in Terre Haute.