More national qualifiers for Dutch track squad
Central College
MONMOUTH, ILL.—The Central College men’s and women’s track teams came away with nine NCAA qualifiers at the Monmouth (Ill.) Invitational Saturday highlighted by an automatic-qualifying mark in the high jump by Ethan Miller (junior, Seymour).
The Dutch men took runner-up honors after racking up148 points with host Monmouth scoring 208.5 for the win. Central’s women were third with 131 points while the Fighting Scots also won the women’s title with 191.6 points.
Miller, the high jump winner at the NCAA indoor championships, equaled his career best on Saturday with a mark of six feet, 11 inches. He finished in a tie for second after two other competitors also jumped 6-11. Miller also won the long jump with a mark of 23-4.5. That performance surpassed the NCAA-provisional standard but did not move him up on the national rankings, where he currently sits in a tie for seventh (23-10.25).
“We all knew Ethan was capable of doing that in the high jump,” said coach Joe Dunham. “But it is nice to get a guaranteed spot at the national meet and not have to worry about it.”
Meanwhile, the men’s 4×100-meter relay squad of Trevor Veach (junior, Grinnell), Mitch Wagoner (freshman, Iowa Falls, Iowa Falls-Alden HS), Kyle Wood (senior, Newton), and Allen Scovel (junior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS) crossed the line first in a time of 41.48 seconds. That mark moves them up to sixth in the national rankings and all but assures them a spot at the national meet.
“They’ve been so consistent this year,” said Dunham. “They run a provisional time every weekend.”
Tyler Crouse (junior, Hedrick, Pekin HS) won the discus throw (157-9) but was unable to move up on the national lists. He is currently sitting in 11th with his previous mark of 165-7.
“Tyler didn’t improve his mark but had a couple of big throws that landed outside of the sector,” said Dunham. “We’re just waiting for him to pop off a big one.”
Other top performances for the Central men on the track included Ben Schornack (sophomore, Urbandale) placing second in the 800 meters (1:55.28) and Wagoner finishing second in the 100-meter dash prelims with a personal-best of 10.99 seconds.
Kurtis Brondyke (senior, Clinton) was second in the long jump (22-5), while Phil Miller (junior, Vinton, Vinton-Shellsburg HS) and Josh Fleming (sophomore, Caseyville, Collinsville HS) placed third in the shot put (49-1) and discus throw (149-4) respectively. Matt Graber (senior, Newton) took second (164-6) in the hammer throw with Crouse placing third (162-10). Aaron Fuller (sophomore, Aberdeen, S.D., Roncalli HS) and Nick Lemmon (freshman, Kent, Wash., Kent-Meridain HS) collected a pair of personal bests by placing third in the javelin throw (163-2) and pole vault (13-9.25) respectively.
Dutch women sweep relays—The Central women swept both relay events Saturday with NCAA-provisional qualifying marks. Rachel Purdy (sophomore, Ankeny), Emily Teas (senior, Indianola), Felicia Coleman (sophomore, Houston, Texas, J. Frank Dobie HS) and Jill Ziskovsky (senior, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) crossed the line in the 4×100 relay with a time of 48.61 seconds, while Purdy, Teas, Coleman, and Miranda Wehde (freshman, Tipton) finished the 4×400 relay in 3:52.62. Neither mark improved their national ranking but they are still second in the 4×400 relay and 15th in the 4×100 relay.
“Just like the men’s 4×100, the women’s 4×400 has been running good times very consistently,” said Dunham. “Those types of teams tend to place high at national meets.”
Ziskovsky also won the 400 hurdles in a time of 1:03.53, placing her 28th on the national lists.
Meanwhile, Morgan Darrow (junior, Newell, Storm Lake HS) improved her season’s best in the shot put, finishing with a NCAA-provisional mark of 43-4.5. She also won the hammer throw (163-11) and is ranked 18th nationally in both events.
Central swept the top two spots in the javelin with Caitlin Wilson (junior, Oakdale, Riverside HS) and Shanna Aberson (sophomore, Orange City, MOC-Floyd Valley HS). Their respective marks of 121-0 and 118-6 represent personal bests. Meanwhile, Liz Hasenmiller (junior, Bettendorf, Davenport Assumption HS) placed third in the pole vault (10-4).
“Caitlin and Shanna both had huge personal bests,” said Dunham. “We could score a lot of points at conference in that event.”
The men’s 4×4 squad of Ethan Miller, Schornack, Veach and Wood also won the meet’s final event while Felicia Coleman won the 100 meters, but a timing error prevented official results from being available.
The Dutch will begin the championship portion of their outdoor season with the Iowa Conference meet slated to begin Thursday at Cornell College in Mount Vernon. The heptathlon is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. with the decathlon starting at 3:15 p.m. The field events will begin Friday at 1 p.m. with the running events starting at 3 p.m.
Central’s men are the two-time defending indoor and outdoor champions and have won 12 of the past 20 outdoor titles. The Dutch women placed third last year and have recorded a top-three finish in eight of the past nine seasons.
“We’ve had a lot of success over the course of this season so far,” said Dunham. “But this is what we’ve been building for since January. We are excited to see what they can do.”
