The Marquette men's 1600-meter relay team won its event at the Notre Dame Invitational this weekend in a time of 3:16.49, the second fastest time ever at Marquette.
Junior Jon Shaffer set the school record with his anchor-leg split of 47.1 seconds.
"It was just one of those days where they all ran well, and then Jon ran amazingly well," head coach Dave Uhrich said.
The relay team's performance highlighted a banner weekend for the men's and women's indoor track programs, as the teams begin to hit their respective strides in the weeks before the conference meet.
The relay team's time is just a few seconds off the school record pace set in 2001 — a time of 3:14.42.
Freshman Joe Pierre set a record for first-year runners in the 800 meters with a time of 1:51.86,breaking the old mark of 1:54.44, set by Glen Gardiner in 2000. Shaffer took sixth in the same event with a time of 1:52.65.
Uhrich was not surprised by Pierre's performance.
"I knew when I recruited him he was going to be very good, and in just three weeks he's shown me he can be the best middle distance runner we've ever had at Marquette," the coach said.
Sophomore Kristin Stoniecki won the women's pole vault with a leap of 10-11 3/4, tying Dee Dee Bryant of Notre Dame for first place in the meet. Stoniecki also tied a school record with the vault, knotting her with senior Jenny Pribyl's leap last season. Stoniecki is replacing Pribyl as the team's primary vaulter this season while Pribyl recovers from injury.
Stoniecki is in the midst of her first year of competing in the pole vault at the collegiate level after transferring from Loyola of Chicago because of the Ramblers' lack of a vaulting program.
"She's been working hard and we have a new pole vault pit in the gym, and she's certainly taking advantage of that and she's shown she can go even higher," Uhrich said.
Freshman Cassie Peller, shifting between the 800 meters and the mile, elected to run in the latter at the Notre Dame meet, and proved she is equally adept at longer races, finishing third in South Bend with a time of 4:53.36, just .07 seconds off the freshman record pace set by Brianna Dahm in the 2001 season.
"Every week she's just running really well, and showing that she can certainly compete at this level, at a high level," Uhrich said.
Junior Jodi Jakubek, the hero of the women's cross country team in the fall, placed second in the two-mile run with a time of 9:53.45, the eighth fastest time in school history.
Senior Crystal Andalcio-O'Neil continued her solid performance in the sprints for the Golden Eagles, taking second place in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.70 and third in the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.49.
In other sprint action, senior Lucky Denega came in second in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.29.
Junior Heather Thomason and freshman Jessica Ehlen took second and third place, respectively, in the shot put. Thomason's throw traveled 43-11 feet, while Ehlen's throw went 43-0 feet.
Also on the men's side, freshman Ray Bratchett finished second in the high jump with a leap of 6-5 and senior Ryan Seebruck ran 49.21 in the 400-meter dash, good enough for third place.
Senior thrower Jonathon Rosploch continued his solid indoor season in the weights, coming in second in the weight throw with a distance of 51-10. Rosploch also finished third in the shot put with a distance of 50-7.
Junior Matt Piekarski competed at the Northern Iowa Invitational by himself, finishing second in the heptathlon, setting a personal best score of 4,592 points, good enough for second in school history.
Overall, Uhrich counts the Notre Dame meet as a positive experience.
"It was a good meet," he said. "It was definitely our best meet so far.
"It was a really good track, so for the runners we really want them to take advantage of the track and the competition, and just about everybody did that."
The Golden Eagles will travel to South Bend again next weekend to compete in the prestigious Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 1 2005.