A little rain didn't stop the UW-River Falls outdoor track and field teams from producing some positive performances on Saturday at the Masked Mayhem hosted by St. Mary's University.

"We didn't set high expectations for this meet being that it has been two years since our athletes have actually competed at an outdoor meet," said head coach Colleen Sowa. "Our goal was to come out and get comfortable running, jumping, and throwing outdoors again. As they have done all season, our athletes exceeded our expectations.

We had lots of personal bests and even some career bests in the cold and rain."

Getting things off to a great start, freshman Maria Laudenbach cruised to a win in the 5000m run with a time of 18:53.34, almost a full minute and a half ahead of the second place finisher. Not to be outdone, Adam Jacobi took first in the same event on the men's side with a time of 16:40.67, followed by teammates Mitchell Hanson and Daniel Byers who came in second and third, respectively.

Meanwhile, over at the pole vault pit, Kimberly Robertson wasted no time impressing with her effort, clearing the bar at 3.58m as she carried over her momentum from a solid indoor season. That mark places her at second in the WIAC.

The team of Trey Hovde, Cody Hawkins, Beau Clemmensen, and Ryan Mount took first in the men's 4x400 relay, while Caleb Venzke won the men's javelin throw.

Other notable performances included a 3rd place finish by Katie Haase in the women's discuss throw (35.31m), a 3rd place finish in the women's high jump by Bethany Vasecka (1.43m), and a tie for 3rd in the men's pole vault by Joel Alexander and Jacob Lawrence (3.40m). 

Both teams will be back in action on Friday, April 2 at the College of Saint Benedict.