Make captimes.com your all-day, every-day, Madison news home page. Subscribe to get news updates delivered by email. Learn more.
UW's Soceka sets pole vault record at Twilight Meet
Junior Jenny Soceka set a UW record in the pole vault to lead the Badgers at the Wisconsin Twilight Meet Saturday at the Dan McClimon Track.
The Wisconsin women's track team won eight events and picked up four NCAA regional qualifying marks. The men, led by double winner James Groce, won five events, and both teams made their final preparations for next weekend's Big Ten Conference outdoor championships.
Soceka vaulted 13-6 1/4 feet to win her event by nearly a foot. Marquette's Carrie Schmid was second at 12-7 1/2.
The former Madison Memorial High School standout broke a five-year-old mark in the vault. The previous best had been 13-5 1/4 set by Tara Clack in 2003. Soceka qualified for NCAA regional competition.
Junior Carly Ducharme ran a personal best and regional qualifying time in winning the 400-meter hurdles. She finished in 59.76 seconds, which ranks sixth on the UW all-time list. Freshman Egle Staisiunaite was second in the hurdles in 1:00.71. Both were regional qualifying marks.
Staisiunaite finished second in the 100-meter hurdles in a season's best time of 14.16 while Ducharme was fourth in 14.55.
The Badgers' other regional qualifying mark came in the shot put where junior Amanda Hoeppner won at 47 feet 5 1/4 inches. Freshman Amanda Montgomery placed fourth at 38-7.
Other event winners were Jessica Jeremiah in the triple jump (38-9 3/4), Alex McCannel in the 100 (12.69), the 400 relay team of Kayla McClendon, Caitlin Dodge, Akaila Cabell and Alexis Beecham (46.82), Joyhanne Verpil in the hammer throw (174-2) and Amy Lewis in the javelin (142-2).
In the men's events, Groce won the 400 in 47.34 seconds and was also a member of the winning 400 relay. He teamed with Nate Larkin, Chas Demers and Andrew Milenkovski to run a season-best time of 40.97.
Larkin improved his NCAA regional qualifying time in the 110 high hurdles, placing second in a personal best time of 14.14.
The Badgers' other event winners were sophomore Pat Nichols in the high jump at 6-7 1/2 and freshman Jake Fritz in the shot put at 55-0 1/4.
Wisconsin swept the top two places in the decathlon and placed three athletes in the top five. Derek Steinbach won the event with a personal best total of 6,132 points. Freshman Ian Jansen placed second with 5,925 points while Alex Bodin was fifth with a personal best point total of 5,693.
Senior Derek Thiel tied his season best and regional qualifying clearance in the pole vault, finishing second at 16-6 3/4.
The Badgers will travel to Champaign, Ill., next weekend for the Big Ten meet. The Wisconsin men are the four-time defending Big Ten team champions and won the 2008 indoor Big Ten title.
