CM
Celeste Madda
  • education
  • Class of 2018
  • Crystal Lake, Ill.

Crystal Lake's Madda Earns Spot on 2018 UW-Whitewater Women's Track and Field Roster

2018 Jan 12

Celeste Madda, a native of Crystal Lake, IL, and graduate of Central High School, will compete for the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's track and field team during the 2018 season, which begins this Saturday with the Karl Schlender Invitational in Whitewater.

Madda, a junior at UW-Whitewater, is majoring in education.

With a bevy of experienced, talented returners, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater women's track and field team looks to make waves both in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and on the national scene in 2018 as the season begins this Saturday with the annual Karl Schlender Invitational at Kachel Fieldhouse.

The Warhawks placed fourth at both the WIAC indoor and outdoor championship meets last season and, after tying for 41st at the NCAA Indoor Championships, capped the year with a 12th-place finish at the national outdoor meet.

Mike Johnson begins his seventh year as UW-Whitewater's head coach. He has led the Warhawks to four top 10 national finishes and 43 All-America accolades.

Seniors Chelsie Bence (Oconomowoc, Wis./Oconomowoc), Lindsay Chase (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater), juniors Celeste Madda (Crystal Lake, Ill./Central) and Liz Mielke (Whitewater, Wis./Whitewater) have been named captains for the 2018 season.

Madda achieved All-America status last season by placing sixth in both the 200-meter dash and the 4x100-meter relay at last season's NCAA Outdoor Championships. She also qualified in the 100-meter dash and reached the national indoor meet in both the 60- and 200-meter dash events. Madda also claimed conference titles in the indoor 200-meter dash and outdoor 100-meter dash in 2017.

Chase garnered her first All-America accolade at last year's NCAA Outdoor Championships by placing eighth in the hammer throw. She finished sixth in the same event at the conference meet and was fourth in the weight throw at the league indoor championships.

Bence, now a two-year captain, was part of the team's third-place 4x100-meter relay at the WIAC Outdoor Championships, and Mielke has competed in the 5,000-meter run at each of the last two indoor conference meets.

Other returning All-Americans include senior Enyo Amet (Racine, Wis./Prairie), juniors Tiffany Bianco(Brookfield, Wis./East), Jordan Tokarski (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine) and sophomore Abbie Felton(Burlington, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran).

Bianco and Felton were part of the team's seventh-place 4x400-meter relay at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Felton and Amet were part of the third-place 4x400-meter relay, and Felton and Tokarski placed sixth in the 4x100-meter relay at the national outdoor meet.

Individually, Felton finished fourth in the 400-meter dash and fifth in the 200-meter dash at the WIAC Outdoor Championships, and fourth in the 400 at the WIAC Indoor Championships. Amet placed sixth in the 400 and eighth in the high jump at the outdoor meet, and third in the high jump indoors.

Sophomore Ashley Tijerina (West Chicago, Ill./West Chicago) was part of the team's fifth-place 4x400-meter relay at the WIAC Outdoor Championships. Sophomore Hailey Van Ells (Greendale, Wis./Martin Luther), Felton and senior Monica Sweet (Franklin, Wis./Franklin) return from last year's distance medley relay team, which finished third at the indoor meet.

UW-Whitewater is scheduled to host two other indoor meets in addition to Saturday's Karl Schlender Invitational. The annual Warhawk Classic Invitational is slated for Jan. 27, and the first-ever Midwest Invitational is scheduled for Feb. 10.

The Warhawks will also make trips to North Central (Ill.) on Jan. 19, UW-Stevens Point on Feb. 3 and UW-Oshkosh on Feb. 17 before the WIAC Indoor Championships, which are set for Feb. 23-24 at UW-Stevens Point.

UW-Whitewater will compete in last chance meets at UW-Platteville (March 2) and UW-Stevens Point (March 3) before heading to the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 9-10 in Birmingham, Ala.

The outdoor season begins at Augustana (Ill.) on March 24. The Warhawks will host the Rex Foster Twilight Invitational on April 6 and the Drake Alternative Meet on April 28. Between the two home meets, the team will travel to UW-Platteville on April 14 and back to Augustana on April 20.

The WIAC Outdoor Championships are slated for May 4-5 at UW-River Falls, and the NCAA Outdoor Championships are scheduled for May 24-26 at UW-La Crosse.