After notching a third place finish in their first meet and five individual wins at the Midwest Invitational this past weekend, the Vikings look to find more success at the University of Whitewater this Saturday.
Head coach David Thompson said he is pleased with the team’s results.
“We’re off to a great start,” Thompson said. “We looked at the first meet as a rust buster; to knock rust off of winter break and fall training.”
Last year at this meet, the Vikings finished eighth out of eleven teams. There were a few University of Wisconsin schools other than Whitewater such as UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stephens Point. Fellow CCIW member North Central College was in attendance as well.
Thompson said this meet is one of the toughest of the season, but the team is prepared for the competition.
“We’ll be ready to stick our nose in there and fight,” Thompson said.
The five individuals to win events at the Midwest Invitational were junior Sydney Zaragoza in the 200, freshman Madi Glatz in the 400, junior Valeria Melo in the 800, freshman Sofia Wajner in the 60 meter hurdles and senior Zoe Robb in the pole vault.
Robb said the performances were a good place to begin with.
“We had some really great performances to start us off this season,” Robb said. “We’re looking really strong.”
Training for the season started back in the fall and continued up until the season’s start. Practice wasn’t mandatory, but many attended to prepare for the season. The team also came back a couple days early for winter break to get a head start on the season.
During these practices, the team had time to bond and build relationships.  Robb thought this conditioning and team bonding was beneficial for herself and for the team.
“It’s cool to see the dedication we have this year and the raw talent that is there,” Robb said. “Now that we have that first meet under our belt, I think we can really start pushing it and taking it to the next level.”
For the rest of the season, the team has high hopes for the CCIW Conference Meet and in each meet before that. While the team is focused on these high goals towards the end of the season, Thompson also wants the team to focus on the achievements made throughout the season.
“I want us to have fun and look back on the year and be proud of the accomplishments and the effort we put in,” Thompson said.