2021 All-WIAC Men's Indoor Track and Field Team [PDF]
MENOMONIE (March 23, 2021) - Five UW-Stout men's track and field athletes earned selection to the 2021 All-Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Track and Field Team.
Noah Zastrow,
Kevin Ruechel, and
Jacob Bugella were first team honorees,
Alec Benzinger earned second and third team awards and
Spencer Schultz was named to the third team in two different events. In addition, Zastrow received the Field Athlete of the Year and the Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete awards and Benzinger was placed on the All-Sportsmanship Team. All five received all-region honors last week by the USTFCCCA.
Zastrow, Ruechel and Bugella all posted the best height or distance in their respective events in NCAA Division III this season.
Zastrow has been dominant nationally in the pole vault event over the last two years. Zastrow's best height of 17-feet, 8.50-inches in a dual with UW-La Crosse, Feb. 20, broke a school record he broke week earlier. The mark is fourth all-time for Division III. Zastrow's heights every meet this season exceeded 17-feet. This is Zastrow's second indoor all-conference award in the pole vault, following a first team award in 2020. A mechanical engineering student with a 3.96 GPA, Zastrow also received the league's Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete Award and was named the Field Athlete of the Year. (See related story).
Bugella is the top-ranked weight thrower in the country and finished first in all five meets he competed in. Bugella cracked 60-feet for the first time when he tossed the weight 62-feet, 5-inches at the WIAC Last Chance Meet. The mark is third on UW-Stout's Top 10 list. Bugella took last season off and the move certainly proved positive. Coming into the 2021 season, Bugella's best mark was 49-3.50 from 2019. Bugella started off the 2021 season with a mark of 55-3 and every meet improved on the previous week's work. This is Bugella's first all-conference award.
Ruechel also finished the season No. 1, breaking his own school record in the shot put when he unleashed a throw that went 60-feet, 1-inch, at the WIAC Last Chance Meet, the first time a Stout shot putter has exceeded 60 feet. This is Ruechel's third indoor all-conference award in the shot put. He was a first team honoree in 2020 and second team in 2019.
Benzinger earned second team all-WIAC honors in the shot put and third team in the weight throw. Nationally, Benzinger is seventh in the shot put with a mark of 54-feet, 1-inch in a dual with UW-La Crosse, Feb. 20, and eighth nationally in the weight throw of 58-10.25 at the WIAC Last Chance Meet, March 6. This is Benzinger's first and second indoor all-conference selection.
Schultz was a third team all-WIAC selection in both the 3000-meter run and the 5000-meter run. Schultz is ranked 13th nationally in the 3000-meter, and third in the WIAC, with a time of 8-minutes, 33.40-seconds at the WIAC Last Chance Meet, a mark that is eighth on the Stout all-time list. Schultz is ranked 15th nationally in the 5000-meter with a time of 14:59.38 at the WIAC Multi at UW-Stevens Point, Feb. 24. This is Schultz's first and second all-conference selection.
The team was based on the final times and distances in the
final TFRSS rankings.
The Blue Devils finished sixth in the final
NCAA Division III Men's Indoor Track & Field National Rating Index of the 2021 season by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
