Freshman Cassie Peller won the 800-meter run and junior Jon Shaffer set a school record in the 600-meter run this weekend at the Minnesota Gold Country Classic at the University of Minnesota Fieldhouse in Minneapolis.
Peller's time of 2:17.77 was nearly a full second faster than the second-place finisher, Jordon Laney of the University of Iowa.
Peller, who was a standout cross country runner for Marquette head coach Dave Uhrich this fall, is proving that her skills can translate onto the track.
"Cassie was a very successful runner in high school and in cross country and has already shown that she's ready to compete at this level as a freshman," Uhrich said.
Although Shaffer's time of 1:19.20 was only good enough for second place in the Minnesota meet, it notched him first place in the Marquette record books. Ryan Jacobson set the mark in 2002 with a time of 1:19.82.
"It felt odd to set a school record but not win the meet. But I lost to an All-American (Aaron Buzard) so I didn't feel disappointed about losing. I knew if I stayed with him I'd be OK.
"The Carthage meet was terrible for me. I had some family situations going on and I wasn't prepared to run. My dad was diagnosed with testicular cancer the Thursday before the meet. He was healthy enough to make it to the meet, but instead of running I would have rather been in the stands just sitting and talking to him. He had a CAT scan and some other tests done and it turns out he's going to be all right."
Buzard of Minnesota won the 600 with a time of 1:18.00, which also set the meet record, eclipsing the 1:18.45 mark set by Corey Cotton of the University of Texas in 1995.
"Jon's been working real hard lately and has had some things going on with his family recently," Uhrich said. "He works really hard and is really deserving of the record."
In other action, senior Crystal Andalcio-O'Neil placed second in both the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.69 and the 200-meter dash with a time of 25.67. Andalcio-O'Neil was coming off a sterling performance at the Carthage Invite two weeks ago in which she broke two meet records.
Andalcio-O'Neil is off to a solid start, but will have to ratchet up her running to keep pace with the marquee sprinters in Conference USA.
"The women's sprint teams in our conference are some of the best in the country," Uhrich said. "Crystal is capable of placing in the conference, which would be a tremendous accomplishment."
Senior Andrea Engelmann finished second in the weight throw with a distance of 50-3/4 inches. Engelmann's throw also places her fifth all-time at Marquette.
On the men's side, senior Jonathon Rosploch came in fourth in the shot put with a throw of 51-5 inches. Rosploch won the shot put and the weight throw at the Carthage Invite.
Sophomore Andy Lelinski and junior Emily Leklem each registered third-place finishes, with Lelinski posting a time of 1:57.84 in the 800-meter run and Leklem throwing the shot put 44-6 inches.
Freshman Kristin Stoniecki was the lone competitor in the women's pole vault, leaping 10 feet. Senior Jenny Pribyl, the team's best remaining vaulter, is coming off an injury and will redshirt the indoor season.
After the Carthage Invite, which served the purpose of getting his team back in a competitive mode after the layoff from the fall season, Uhrich and his staff are looking for weekly progress leading up to the conference season.
"I think for the most part everyone's progressing very well," Uhrich said. "There might still be a few people who are working on certain things, but we're mainly looking for progress as a group from week to week."
Marquette will resume its indoor season this weekend when it travels to South Bend, Ind. for the Irish Blue and Gold Open on the campus of Notre Dame.
This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Jan. 25 2005.