SPOKANE, Wash. - The UT Arlington track & field teams opened competition at the WAC Indoor Track & Field Championships in Spokane, Washington, with multiple podium finishes to land the men in third place with 36.5 points and the women in first place with 67 points.
 
The Mavericks wasted no time getting on the podium, as Eliza Lemberga captured the first WAC gold medal od the day in the women's pentathlon with 3,974 points.
 
UTA saw continued success in the field events. In the men's pole vault, Freshman Noah Matthews cleared a personal best 4.88m to earn silver, while sophomore Ethan Saenz followed with a third-place finish at 4.73m.
 
In the men's weight throw, Joey Haws secured silver with a mark of 18.45m, and Logan Villalva added bronze with a throw of 18.23m.
 
On the women's side, Freshman Arieanna Mcpeak placed second in the women's long jump with a mark of 5.83m, finishing as the top freshman in the event. Sophia Allen earned third place in the women's pole vault with a mark of 3.65m. Senior Jaalah Puryear earned second place (19.04m) and sophomore Esther Adidire landed in third place (17.38m) in the women's weight throw.
 
Dorcas Jepkosgei finished third in the women's 5000m race (16:43.28) and to cap off the day, the women's quad group of Zaire Moore, Kayan Green, Emilia Mandl and Linn Adolfsson took first in the women's DMR (11:53.20).

Several Mavericks also punched their tickets to Saturday's finals. Jepkosgei qualified for the women's mile (4:58.60) Indiya Walton and Moore both advanced in the women's 60m hurdles, with Walton posting the second-fastest preliminary time (8.60) and Moore finishing third overall (8.61). Esther Shaba qualified for the women's 60m final after clocking a 7.52 for fifth overall, while Alexis Cain advanced to the women's 400m final in 54.49.
 
In the 800m, Leo LeGrand (1:55.21) and Daniel Armstrong (1:55.43) qualified for the men's final. On the women's side, Kayan Green (2:12.90) and Emilia Mandl secured spots in the 800m final.
 
Eli England qualified for the men's 200m final after clocking in 21.45. In addition to their other qualifying races, Cain and Shaba also qualified for the women's 200m final.
 
THOUGHTS FROM COACH
"Today was a really great day. We had so many people qualify for finals tomorrow. We're competing against a lot of good talent in Utah Valley and Tarleton State so we're gonna fight hard to finish this meet out strong," said Coach Sauerhage, "The women winning the DMR was the icing on the cake for the day. This has been the best opening day I've ever seen from the women in over 20 years."
 
NEXT UP
The Mavericks will return to action tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 28, to conclude the WAC Indoor Track & Field Championships.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
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