David Paynotta sets school record in 60-meter dash

The UW-River Falls men's and women’s track and field teams traveled to Platteville, Wisconsin, on Feb. 27-28, to compete in the 2015 WIAC Indoor Championships where multiple Falcons had top 10 performances.

Junior David Paynotta broke a school record in the 60-meter dash and placed first in the event with a time of 6.89, which is currently the sixth best time in the nation in the 60-meter event.

“It feels great to hold the school record but it was a dream come true to win the WIAC 60- meter dash,” Paynotta said.

Head Coach Matthew Cole was not surprised at all by Paynotta’s performance and thought before the event that he had a good shot at winning the event.

On the women’s team there was a strong performance by sophomore Riley Claude, who placed third in the pole vault event with a vault of 11-10, two and half inches away from a her own program record.

The competition this year was tough, as only Paynotta and Claude placed in the top three in the WIAC Indoor Championships. Cole thought his team performed well at the meet and was pleased by the Falcons' performance. According to Cole, the competition at the WIAC Indoor Championships is always tough.

“That meet is extremely tough every year,” Cole said. “The depth and the power of this conference is good year-in and year-out.”

The men’s track and field team had other notable performances from senior Windsor Molnar, who placed sixth in the pole vault with a leap of 15-3 3/4, which was a career high. Freshman Colton Sorensen placed seventh in the pole vault with a leap of 15-3 3/4, the same as Molnar, but centimeters shorter.

The men’s 4x200-meter relay team placed fifth with a time of 1:32.49, and in the 4x400-meter relay the Falcons placed sixth with a time of 3:28.04.

The women’s track and field team also had notable performances. The women’s 4x200-meter relay team placed sixth with a time of 1:46.55. The Falcons also placed eighth in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 4:14.48. Junior Nicole Manteuffel placed seventh in the long jump with a leap 5-0 1/4.

The women’s track and field team placed eighth in the meet with a total of 12.5 points. The men’s track and field team also placed eighth with a total of 25 points. While both teams would have liked to have placed higher in the meet, there still were many positives from the meet.

“Overall, I thought that our team competed well," Paynotta said. "We didn't place where we would have liked to, but everybody has improved so much since the start of the year and that's the important thing.”

Cole is looking forward to getting outside for the outdoor season as many on the team are banged up from the indoor season due to the hard tracks of indoor facilities.

The men's and women’s track and field teams will be competing in the UW-Stevens Point NCAA "Last Chance" meet at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 7, with some members looking at a possible NCAA Indoor Championships berth.