Lewis named MVP, Central men third at conference indoor track meet
WAVERLY — Central College men’s track and field junior Brock Lewis (Lathrop, Mo.) was named Field Events Most Valuable Performer at the American Rivers Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships as the team finished third Sunday.
Wartburg College won the team title with 172 points. Central had 112 in third place.
“I’m very happy with how we did today” coach Brandon Sturman said. “I told the team before the meet that we couldn’t get out to a slow start. We needed to get out there and get warmed up and make sure we were ready to go. We broke 100 points and separated ourselves from fourth place.”
Brock Lewis swept the triple jump and long jump, totaling 20 points for the Dutch. He set a new school and conference record in the triple jump (48-6) while also winning the long jump (23-4.5).
“I couldn’t be prouder of what he’s done this season,” Sturman said. “It’s great to see him win both this year. He now has the conference record, championships record and school record.”
Drake Lewis (junior, Lathrop, Mo.) successfully defended his conference high jump crown, needing a clearance of just 6-4.75 to get the gold medal. Freshman Matt Riedemann (Calumet, South O’Brien HS) was fourth at 6-3.5.
“Drake ended up being the last competitor so he skipped a few heights and went straight to 2.06 meters (6-9),” Sturman said. “I’m sure he would have liked to have done a little bit more progression and take his time but it went a lot quicker than we were anticipating.”
Three Dutch athletes combined for 23 points in the pentathlon, led by Lucas Heitz’s (sophomore, Adel, ADM HS) winning total of 3,319 points. Jaxon Thompson (freshman, Marion, Linn-Mar HS) was second (3,201 points) and Nick Thompson (junior, Newhall, Benton HS) was fourth (3,122 points).
“I’m proud of all three of them,” Sturman said. “We knew this would be a good event for us and they went out there today and proved it.”
A stellar season continued for Joe Stein (freshman, Milford, Spirit Lake HS) who set a school record in the 60-meter dash (6.87 seconds), placing second.
“He’s been doing it all season,” Sturman said. “We finally got to a point in the year where he had some more competition and I think he really handled it well.”
Senior pole vaulter Tanner Johnson (Gallatin, Mo.) had a lifetime-best effort of 14-7.25 to garner a silver medal. Freshman Brody Klein (Rainier, Wash.) was fifth in 12-5.5
In the 800-meter run, Noah Jorgenson (freshman, Sidney) was fourth (1:55.23) and Will DeHaan (junior, DeWitt, Central DeWitt HS) was fifth (1:55.45). Jorgenson and DeHaan ran the last two legs of the fifth-place 4×800-meter relay squad. They were joined by Adam Sylvia (sophomore, Boston, Mass., Old Rochester HS) and Jacob Sanders (sophomore, Nevada) to clock in at 8:03.23. DeHaan was also seventh in the mile (4:21.29).
Central’s quarter of Danny Devenuto (junior, Plainfield, Ill., North HS), Nolan Reynolds (sophomore, Montezuma), Grant Boyse (sophomore, Wellman, Mid-Prairie HS) and Carter Tryon (junior, Winterset) was fourth in the 4×400-meter relay (3:29.74). Tryon was also seventh in the 200-meter dash (22.85) and Reynolds was seventh in the 400-meter dash (51.47).
Theo Baldus (junior, St. Ansgar) scored in both the weight throw and shot put, taking fifth (51-5.5) and sixth (44-9.5), respectively. Thomas Spoehr (junior, Bennington, Neb.) was eighth in the shot put (44-1.25).
Jonathan Bossou (sophomore, Ottumwa) added a seventh-place time of 8.87 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles).
