Courtesy of Adam Hussman/MLC SID

MORRIS – The Martin Luther College men’s track and field won their first UMAC Outdoor Championship this past weekend after performing near the top in nearly every event. Entering Saturday, the Knights trailed UW-Superior 105-85 in total team points. Still, MLC had an impressive day two to catapult itself past the Yellowjackets to claim its first-ever UMAC Outdoor title as a member of the NCAA (Won UMAC Championship in 1998 and 1999 as a member of the NAIA), finishing with 234 points. UW-Superior came in second with 212 points.

In order to achieve that feat, the Knights needed help from multiple individuals, and they got just that with many first and second-place finishes along with a few meet and school records.

Stephen Wietzke led the way once again with three first-place results in short-distance events. Wietzke earned them in the 100m dash (10.97 seconds), 200m dash (22.04 seconds), and in the 4x100m relay (42.81 seconds) along with Matthew Hillmer, Lucas Holtz, and Arthur Robinson.

Samuel Plocher had a banner weekend, taking first in the high jump (2.01 meters), which was a meet record, while clocking in at 15.10 seconds in the 110m hurdles for first. Additionally, the sophomore took second in the 400m hurdles with a mark of 1:00.02.

A pair of freshmen in Daniel Reinke and Daniel Ertman, also took first in their respective events. Reinke earned it in the discus throw, hitting a PR heave of 42.92 meters, while Ertman had an impressive effort in the 400m, breaking an MLC and meet record in doing so with a time of 50.16 seconds. The previous MLC record was 50.36 seconds, set by Kyle Needham in 2001. Robinson also broke Needham’s record with his time of 50.35 seconds, which also gave him a meet record to finish second behind Ertman.

In the 400m hurdles, Hillmer received first after he crossed the finish line in 58.56 seconds, while the 4x400m relay team ( Robinson, Ryan Schmidt, Micah Schibbelhut, Ertman) also placed first with a meet record time of 3:23.72.

R.J. Perry placed second in the hammer throw (48.44 meters, new school record), shot put (14.27 meters), and discus (41.07 meters). Reinke took third in the shot put (13.45 meters), while Jesus Medina earned third in the discus (39.93 meters) and fourth in the shot put (13.30 meters).

Robinson added to his weekend with three other second-place results in the 200-meter dash (22.16 seconds), long jump (6.45 meters), and triple jump (12.99 meters). Other notable finishes included a third place in the 200m dash from Ertman with a PR time of 22.68 seconds and a second place finish from the 4×800 m relay team of Eliott Heiderich, Schmidt, Ertman, and Schibbelhut (8:49.93).