Central men, women post top-20 finishes at NCAA track championships
Central College
DELAWARE, OHIO–Churning out still one more school record to cap a memorable meet, the Central College men’s and women’s track and field squads each posted top-20 team finishes at the NCAA Division III championships Saturday.
The Dutch men were seventh in the team standings, picking up four more points Saturday by taking fifth in the 4×100-meter relay in a season-best 41.35 seconds with the unit of Trevor Veach (Trevor Veach (junior, Grinnell), Mitch Wagoner (freshman, Iowa Falls, Iowa Falls-Alden HS), Kyle Wood (junior, Newton) and Allen Scovel (junior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS). The foursome was sixth in the preliminaries Thursday, matching what was then its season-best mark of 41.48 seconds.
“Their handoffs were not perfect but they ran really well,” coach Joe Dunham said. “It was a tight, tight race and I’m extremely happy for them. Anytime you can be all-American, that’s something to be proud of and I’m excited to have every single one of those guys back next year.”
Meanwhile in what has become a regular occurrence for the Central women’s 4×400-meter relay team, the Dutch shattered another school record and claimed a second-place finish in 3:45.30, its best national showing ever in the event. The unit of Jill Ziskovsky (senior, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS), Emily Teas (senior, Indianola), Rachel Purdy (sophomore, Ankeny), and Felicia Coleman (sophomore, Houston, Texas, J. Frank Dobie HS) had lowered the school mark by more than two seconds Thursday, taking third in the preliminaries in 3:46.3, before shaving another second off that mark Saturday.
“(Associate head coach) Guy Mosher said to me, ‘I just want to keep racing because they just keep getting better,’” Dunham said. “They’re so fit right now, they keep getting more and more confidence. That speaks to all the hard work they put in. They came in extremely hungry after last year and had it in their minds to do this.”
It was the seventh time that Ziskovsky has received all-America distinction in her Central career.
“It was great for Emily (Teas) and Jill to go out on a high note after such great careers,” Dunham said. “It was a neat thing to be part of.”
In Central’s only other Saturday event, Tyler Crouse (junior, Hedrick, Pekin HS) fouled on two of his three preliminary throws in the discus and failed to advance to the finals. His toss of 145 feet, eight inches was well shy of his career best throw of 166-1.
“It was good for Tyler to get some more experience,” Dunham said. “He responded a little better than his freshman year at the national meet. He’ll be hungry to get back here next year.”
Central’s seventh-place men’s finish was the program’s sixth national top-10 showing and its highest since placing seventh in 2002. It was the 15th top-25 team finish for the Dutch.
The women’s 17th-place effort was the program’s ninth top-25 national team finish and its highest since taking 14th in 2004.
Central had 11 athletes earn all-America honors in a week highlighted by the one-two decathlon finish of Ethan Miller (junior, Seymour) and Kurtis Brondyke (senior, Clinton). Ziskovsky and Caitlin Wilson (junior, Oakland, Riverside HS) were fifth and eighth, respectively, in the heptathlon.
“It was a great meet,” Dunham said. “To have four all-Americans in the multi-events is incredible. A lot of credit goes to Guy Mosher. He did a great job of getting the kids prepared. I’m really proud of him.”
In addition to Teas and Ziskovsky, the Dutch graduate Brondyke and Matt Graber (senior, Newton), who competed in the NCAA meet in the shot put.
“They’ll be extremely difficult to replace,” said Dunham, who piloted the Central men to indoor and outdoor Iowa Conference titles as well as a third-place showing for the women.
But the third-year Dutch mentor, who has known little but success in his short tenure at Central, has his sights set even higher.
“Hopefully the recruiting class we’re bringing in will provide some great depth next year,” Dunham said. “As great as this season was, we want to keep moving forward.”
NCAA Division III men’s team standings
1) North Central (Ill.) 58 2) Wis.-La Crosse 56 3) McMurry 50 4) Washington U. 34 5) La Verne 33 6) Moravian 30 7) Central College 28 8) Cal Lutheran 26 9) Fredonia St. 20 10) Wis.-Oshkosh 19.
NCAA Division III women’s team standings
1) Wis.-Oshkosh 80 2) Wartburg 59 3) Methodist 48 4) MIT 45 5) Williams 36 6) Ithaca 33.50 7) Illinois College 22 7) North Central (Ill.) 22 9) Nebraska Wesleyan 20 10) Carleton 19 11) Wis.-Eau Claire 18 12) Middlebury 15 13) Tufts 14 13) Mount Union 14 13) Gustavus Adolphus 14 13) Buffalo State 14 17) Central College 13 18) Calvin 11 19) Moravian 10 19) Wis.-Platteville 10 19) Stevens Institute 10 19) Rose-Hulman 10 19) Wis.-Whitewater 10 19) George Fox 10 19) Coe 10 19) Centre 10.
