McCrary Wins Long Jump Title; Eagles in Third-Place
3/12/2010 7:27:30 PM
Dave Pergande and Assistant Coach Doug Geiwitz
Greencastle, Ind. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's track & field team is in third-place after the first day of competition at the 2010 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Indoor Championships at DePauw University. The Eagles have 15.5 team points. North Central College (Ill.) leads with 23.3 points while Trinity University (Texas) is second with 18.0.
UW-Oshkosh is in fourth-place (12.0) and McMurry University (Texas) is fifth (10.3).
UW-L's Kellen McCrary captured the national title in the long jump Friday afternoon with a mark of 23-6. "This feels great," said McCrary. "The team continues to support me and all my hard work paid off. I'm so glad I was able to help the team out today by scoring some valuable points. I feel great right now and hope to continue this success throughout the rest of my career."
McCrary is the third athlete in school history to capture the long jump indoor national title, joining Bill Schroeder (1993) and Andy Basler (2002).
The Eagles' Dave Pergande also earned All-America honors Friday after finishing in a tie for sixth-place in the pole vault (16-1 3/4). "I hit the height that got me on the awards stand and knew that the rest would be a bonus," said Pergande.
UW-L's distance medley relay picked up All-America awards Friday night after a sixth-place finish. The relay of Brian Shonat, Ryan Mendez, McCauley Kraker and Bruce Schmitz finished with a time of 10:06.86.
It the first career All-America accolades for McCrary, Pergande, Shonat, Mendez, Kraker and Schmitz.
In preliminary track action Friday, the Eagles' Matt Gordy (6.50) and Zach Lee (6.51) both advanced to Saturday's 55-meter dash final.
Action concludes Saturday, March 13.