UW-SP track team captures title The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point won individual titles in 10 of the 20 men's track and field events to capture the North Central College Cardinal Classic Saturday, April 14, in Naperville, Ill. The Pointers accumulated 241 team points to eclipse second place North Central's 202 points. UW-Oshkosh was third with 184.5 points. On the women's side, the Pointers finished second with 197.75 points behind UW-Oshkosh, which had 224.5 points. Jesse Drake (Rhinelander) and Leah Juno (Brillion), who both won indoor national titles a month ago, both qualified for the NCAA Division III outdoor nationals with automatic qualifying times. Drake won the men's 10,000 meters in 30:44.65 and Juno claimed the women's 800 meters in 2:12.29. The men's team had five other winners who had provisional qualifying marks for nationals. Eric Miller (Green Bay) won the 200 meters in 21.64 seconds and Craig Gunderson (Waupaca) won the 400 meters in 48.35 seconds. Joel Schult (Merrill) won the discus with a throw of 158 feet, 6 inches and Luke Hilgers (Nekoosa) won the hammer throw in 171 feet, 6 inches. The 1,600-meter relay team also won in 3:16.00. Other men's winners were Shane Suehring (Marion) in the steeplechase at 9:22.02, Aaron Carley (Lodi) in the long jump at 22 feet, 1.75 inches, Jon Casey (Randolph) in the javelin at 154 feet, 2 inches and Chris Horvat (Menomonee Falls) in the 800 meters at 1:53.00. Becky Lebak (Burlington) ran away from the field in the women's 10,000 meters, winning by 41 seconds with a time of 17:47.25. Other women's winners were Rachel Carlson (Nekoosa) in the hammer throw at 139 feet, 8 inches and Megan Lundahl (Sturgeon Bay) in the discus at 124 feet, 2 inches. Baseball The Pointers look to regroup from a pair of WIAC-opening losses to UW-Oshkosh on Saturday with four league games this weekend to open an eight-game homestand. The home games are the final games of the year in Stevens Point before the Pointers close with six straight road games. Friday, the Pointers host UW-Stout, which is off to a 15-1-1 start and has a .397 team batting average. Saturday, UW-Stevens Point will host UW-Superior, which has played just six games this season because of poor weather. Jon Jagler (Wausau) went three-for-six in the doubleheader against UW-Oshkosh and drove in four of the Pointers' six runs in the 11-5 and 2-1 losses. He had a three-run homer in the first game as the Pointers jumped out to a 5-2 lead before the Titans scored five runs in the sixth and four in the eighth. Jagler had a sacrifice fly in the first inning of the second game, but the Titans scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings off Bill Verbrick (Appleton) for the win. Verbrick allowed seven hits, struck out three and walked his first two batters of the year, snapping a streak of 29 1/3 innings without a walk to open the year. Paul Molitor (Reedsburg) had hits in both games to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. The Pointers head into the action with a 15-8 overall record and 0-2 in the WIAC. Softball The Pointers fell to 1-5 in WIAC play, dropping a doubleheader to UW-Oshkosh on Tuesday, April 17, 4-2 and 8-5. UW-O took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a two-out, run-scoring double, only the fourth earned run given up by UW-SP's Karen Guckenberger (South Milwaukee) in 66.1 innings pitched this season. After the Pointers tied the game in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly, the Titans scored three runs on three UW-SP errors in the bottom of the sixth. In the second game, the Titans jumped out to a 7-0 lead en route to its first doubleheader sweep of UW-SP since April 5, 1988. Sarah Berg (Stillwater, Minn.) hit two-run homer for the Pointers in the fourth inning. The game featured only seven earned runs. UW-SP recovered from a tough start to the week by sweeping 18th ranked University of Chicago, 5-1 and 2-0, on Saturday. Earlier in the week, the Pointers lost to UW-Whitewater, 3-0 and 4-2, and to Winona State, 1-0 and 5-0. On Saturday, the Pointers jumped out by scoring five earned runs in the opening game against Chicago's Kelly Ostler, who leads the nation in strikeouts and entered the game with a 0.53 ERA. Nicole Alexander (Dodgeville) had a two-run double in the first inning and Cari Briley (Creston, Iowa) added a two-run triple in the sixth. Sophomore Guckenberger earned both victories on Saturday. She hadn't allowed an earned run in any of her first four losses and lowered her season ERA to 0.32. Guckenberger had gone 37 2/3 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run and has 182 career strikeouts, which is just five away from the school's all-time career strikeout record, despite playing just one and a half seasons. Nicki Bertram (Marion) pitched five scoreless innings in the second game win over Chicago and has a 1.78 ERA with a 6-2 record for the season. Nikki Best (Portage) went 10-for-19 at the plate in the six games last week. The Pointers, 13-6 overall and 1-3 WIAC, take part in the UW-Eau Claire tournament over the weekend. They are scheduled to face UW-Superior at 1 p.m. Saturday, UW-Eau Claire at 5 p.m. Saturday, St. Scholastica at 1 p.m. Sunday and UW-La Crosse at 5 p.m. Sunday.