The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh men’s and women’s track and field teams took a trip down to UW-Whitewater on Friday, April 22 to take part in the Phil Esten’s Track Challenge. Both the men’s and women’s teams finished in the top four, with the men finishing second place with a team score of 144 and the women finishing in fourth place with a score of 90.5. The men’s team consistently finished in the top three places, however, they fell short of the UW-La Crosse, which scored 206 total points. Senior Jordan Carpenter was one of the participants who finished first in his event. Carpenter ran the steeplechase and finished with a time of 9:05.31. With Carpenter’s time in the steeplechase, he said he will most likely qualify for nationals. Carpenter said he believes the rest of his team should also be focused on reaching the national circuit. “Obviously, with the talent we have on the team, we will do well at most of the meets we bring a full team to, but the goal of the meets before conference is to get as many people qualified for the conference and national meets as possible,” Carpenter said. Carpenter said he believes he will be participating at nationals due to the time he achieved in his event, but he still believes he can make improvements. “The race wasn’t perfect and there are areas that I need to work on as I look towards the national meet, most notably would be my water jumps,” Carpenter said. “I hope to break the 9-minute barrier for the first time in my career this coming weekend.” While Carpenter took first place in his event, Coach Ben Dorsey said he thought that the meet went well all tgether and many other participants performed well. “It was a great overall meet with great weather,” Dorsey said. “Wal Khat and Roberto Lara ran awesome in the 1500 meter. The women’s 4×100 broke the school record. Taylor Sherry opened up nicely in the 100 meter hurdles.” Just like the men’s team, the women’s team also had first place finishers. Senior Taylor Sherry was just one of these participants who finished atop the leaderboards. Sherry took first place in the 100 meter hurdles with a time of 14.37. She also finished eighth in the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 1:05.38. Sherry has dealt with injuries, preventing her participation in events earlier in the season. Due to this, Sherry said she did not know how well she would perform. “Last Friday was my first outdoor meet and I was very happy with my opening times,” Sherry said. “I had great practices leading up to the meet so I had high expectations in the 100 meter hurdles and I was very satisfied in my performance as well as almost tying my lifetime personal record, and ultimately, qualifying for nationals.” Sherry ran in the 400 meter hurdles for the first time in her career as well. She said she was looking forward to the experiences that were to come in her new event. Sherry also went on to add she believes her team is in a good position for moving forward. Sherry said her team needs to take things week by week. “Everyone did a great job embracing the competition and using it to our advantage,” Sherry said. “This week’s focus is to continue to get more people qualified for the conference meet.” The women’s team missed out on a top three finish by falling short to UW- Stout by eight points, (98.5-90.5). Both track teams will travel to the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa and the Gina Relays in Hillsdale, Michigan from April 28 through the 30.