Dutch vying to stay on top of conference in men’s track
Central College
PELLA — Having swept the conference’s indoor and outdoor championships the last two seasons, coach Joe Dunham leads the Central College men’s track and field team into the 2017 campaign looking to continue the streak.
The program returns 24 letterwinners from last season, but there is still some uncertainty. Several athletes responsible for scoring big points at the conference meets have graduated.
“We’ve got some big challenges in front of us,” Dunham said. “We lost some seniors that were not only great athletes but also great leaders. Leadership can be difficult to replace but I see great things in the culture of our team and we’ll have new leaders step up.”
With a youthful roster, there may be some growing pains but Dunham knows that the most important thing in the midst of a long season is being able to peak at the right time.
“Our focus is on the process and taking it one meet at a time,” he said. “We’ll get to that high level but we’re going to take our time getting to that point so we can do it the right way.”
Sprints
A pair of junior all-conference performers, Justin Wimbish and Blake Morgan, return to spearhead the sprint events for the Dutch.
Wimbish placed in the top eight indoors in the 60-meter dash and doubled up outdoors in the 100 and 200-meter dashes. Morgan was all-conference in the 400 at both the indoor and outdoor meets. Sophomore Caleb Jennings, an all-league honoree from the outdoor 4×400-meter relay, also returns.
We’re looking very strong in this area,” Dunham said. “I’m very confident in the leadership we have in the sprints and I’m excited to see them continue to improve.”
The relay events will have to be reshuffled due to graduation and a handful of student-athletes, including all-conference performer Hunter Howe, spending the semester on Central’s study abroad program.
“There’s going to be some challenges,” Dunham said. “But at the same time we’ve got a great core and I believe sprints are going to be a strength for our team.”
Jumping events
The national runner-up in the high jump at both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Division III Championships, senior Logan Mulford is vying for a national championship.
Mulford, who leaped 7 feet, 0.25 inches during the indoor season and 6-11.75 outdoors, is one of Divison III’s most dynamic high jumpers.
“Logan had great success last year at both the indoor and outdoor national meets,” Dunham said. “He has big goals and has gotten off to a great start so far this year. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
In the long jump, Wimbish placed second at both conference meets while senior Joe Kotz was seventh in the triple jump outdoors. Fellow senior Zac Quick will also figure in the horizontal jumps while a strong contingent of newcomers give Dunham confidence in the area.
“Our jumps in general area going to be strong,” Dunham said. “I think it will be one of the strongest areas on our entire team.”
Hurdles
One of the most decorated hurdlers in program history, 2016 grad Dan Roemerman is now coaching his former position group. While depth may be limited, junior Hunter Pollpeter is prepared to step up according to Dunham. Pollpeter placed sixth in the 60-meter hurdles at the conference meet a year ago.
“Hunter is a very talented athlete,” Dunham said. “I think he’s got a chance to compete at the highest level of the conference. He’s going to be a great leader for us.”
Reese Iversen, another junior, is predominately a multi-event athlete but he registered an eighth-place finish at the indoor meet in the 60-meter hurdles. The rest of the hurdlers are likely to come out of the freshman class.
Middle distance
A strong junior class provides much of the talent in the middle distance group, including all-conference performers Mark Fairley and Taylor Donner.
Central is led by Donner in the 800 meters, who clocked the team’s fastest time in the event indoors and outdoors last season. Fairley excelled in the 1,500 meters during the outdoor season, placing third in the conference.
Dunham also expects juniors Jeremy Caracci and Ben Stelk as well as sophomores Parker Hill and Kyle Pape to make some waves.
“I’m really excited about this crew but I’m not sure what expect yet,” Dunham said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how things unfold in the indoor season before moving outdoors.”
A talented crop of freshman cross country runners will also figure heavily into the middle distance discussion.
“A lot of our newcomers are more middle-distance focused,” Dunham said. “They’ve learned a lot about training at the college level from the cross country season and now they are ready to reap the results of the hard work they’ve been putting in.”
Distance
Senior Isaac Steffensmeier sets the pace in the distance events and takes the mantle from Central’s string of successful distance runners in recent years. He placed in the top-8 indoors in the 3,000- and 5,000- as well as outdoors in the 5,000 and 10,000.
Fairley is also a key component in some of the longer races, narrowly missing a spot at the outdoor national meet in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
“Isaac and Mark provide great leadership,” Dunham said. “We do have some frontrunners who are going to be able to do some great things at the conference level and hopefully at the national level as well.”
Junior Tanner Rathje is coming off a solid cross country season and is featured in a deep pool of runners that also includes seniors Karl Weaver and Kyle Schelling.
Throwing events
An abundance of talent returning in the throwing events sees Central return athletes who combined for seven all-conference performances at the indoor and outdoor conference championships.
Junior Ryan Kruse headlines that group as a returning all-conference performer in the shot put (indoors and outdoors), discus throw (outdoors) and javelin (outdoors). Indoors, sophomore Nathan Fitzgerald took fourth in the shot put and Michael Firkins was seventh in the weight throw. Ben Miller placed eighth in the discus throw outdoors.
Three additional lettermen also return in seniors Jordan Sanders, Jake Webb, and junior Steven Adkins.
“The throws is an area where we have some great leadership,” Dunham said. “We’ve got some guys with experience at the conference level.”
Also impressed by some young newcomers, Dunham is excited by what he sees from the throwers.
“We’re in a great place with our throws program,” he said. “It’s going to be a developmental year for some of our younger guys but the veteran leadership can really help them develop into something great.’
Multi-events
Kruse finished second at the indoor conference meet in the heptathlon and third outdoors for the decathlon. He’s joined by Iversen as well as some top freshman talent to generate energy.
“This is going to be an area of growth the next couple of years,” Dunham said. “We’re very excited about this group.”
Schedule
The 2017 season got an early start with some early-bird competition prior to the Christmas break. The indoor season starts in full force January 21 with the Dutch Athletics Classic. The conference’s indoor championships are set for February 24-25 in Dubuque with the outdoor finals scheduled for May 11-13 in Storm Lake.
The conference championships will see the competition level raise a notch this season with the addition of traditional Division III contender Nebraska Wesleyan University.
“They are going to be one of those teams fighting for the conference title,” Dunham said. “They are well-coached and we have a lot of respect for them. We’re excited for them to join the league, it’s certainly going to make the conference meets even more interesting.”
