Falcons end indoor season at NCAAs

The UW-River Falls track and field team closed its indoor season with a successful finish at the NCAA meet in Indiana. The meet was March 13-14, and was held at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute. Overall, there were 446 students from 134 colleges across 27 states.

Junior Jenny Aronson received All-American honors with her eighth place finish in the long jump, with a jump of 17Õ9 ?Ó.
She was the first to receive the honor, but not the last.

Later on in the weekend, sophomore Nick Zeien received All-American honors with his fifth place finish in the 800-meter dash with a final time of 1:54.99.
According to the Falcon News press release, Zeien and Aronson became the 48th and 49th Falcons to earn the All-American honor in track and field and the 18th and 19th Falcons to gain the honor in the indoor season.

Senior Kim Altenhofen competed in the shot put and fell one position shy of qualifying for the finals. Senior Jess Reed competed in the 55-meter hurdles and set a new personal best and school record with a time of 8.37 seconds. Aronson finished eighth in the women’s long jump.

With the end of the indoor season, the Falcons now get ready for the outdoor season which begins March 28 with the Alabama relays. Several players said they are looking forward to the outdoor season including Aronson, who competed in Indiana at the indoor nationals.

“I feel the outdoor season is an opportunity to improve on my goals,” Aronson said in an e-mail interview. “Unlike most sports, track and field has two seasons, an indoor and an outdoor. So, if I didn’t reach my goal on the indoor season, I have the outdoor season to look forward to.Ó”

Head Coach Martha Brennan agreed that the outdoor season is good for the students to have another opportunity to reach their goals, but also stressed that with two seasons, it is hard to stay determined.

“Staying dedicated during the entire indoor and outdoor season is hard, especially for the younger students who may not realize how long a season it is.”

As the season continues, other members of the team look forward to moving events outdoors.

“I really like the outdoor season,” junior Carly Eggert said. “Doing events indoors make the area very crowded and competing outside allows weather to become a factor.”

Sophomore Caitlin Brendum brought up the fact that some people have more events outdoors than indoors.

“During the indoor season, I have two events, but during the outdoor season, I have four events that I compete in,” Brendum said.

Brendum and Eggert also discussed what their goals were for the upcoming season. Both of their goals involved going to the conference meet.

“I would really like to place at conference,” Eggert said.

“My goal is to place on all four of my events,Ó Brendum said. ÒThe shot put, the discuss, the hammer throw and the javelin.”

The Alabama relays start the outdoor season, with the big event being the Falcon Invitational April 3-4. The outdoor season closes with the nationals May 21-23.