MENOMONIE (January 30, 2016) - The first heat of the women's 200-meter dash at the Warren Bowlus Open at UW-Stout's Sports and Fitness Center was set to begin late Saturday afternoon. The three runners were preparing to get into their starting blocks.

UW-Stout's Kayla Bertram, a senior with the Blue Devils, was assigned to lane number six, the outside lane. Her boyfriend of nearly seven years and a former Blue Devil distance runner on the men's team, Mitch Freund, stood on the starting blocks to steady Bertram's start.

The crowd at the eight team men's and women's meet gathered for the start, but it would be a different start than they anticipated.

Wearing khaki pants and a Blue Devil track pullover, Freund peeled off his pullover revealing he was wearing a dress shirt and tie. Freund was handed a microphone, spoke for a few moments about his love for Bertram, got down on one knee and asked her to marry him and revealed the ring.

After a momentary delay to...