Another record falls for Central track squads
Central College
DES MOINES—The Central College men’s and women’s track squads resumed competition at the Jim Duncan Invitational Saturday, earning two more victories in addition to a record-setting performance in the women’s 4×400-meter relay.
Adding to an already storied season, the foursome 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) took runner-up honors in the meet’s final collegiate event, crossing the line in a time of three minutes, 50.16 seconds. Their mark was almost a full second faster than the previous record of 3:51.04 set in 2008. Ziskovsky and Teas were also members of the previous record-holding relay along with graduates Rachelle Tipton and Kari Hutchinson.
“It has been fun to watch this group have success,” said coach Joe Dunham. “That race was at the end of a real long day. I expect them to break that record a few more times before the end of the season.”
That mark improves their previous NCAA-provisional mark of 3:51.92 and is only six-hundredths of a second from NCAA-automatic qualifier status, currently ranking them third in Division III. The same group took third in the 4×100 relay earlier in the day in a time of 48.85 seconds.
Coleman also had a brush with a qualifying time in the 100 meters, winning the event in a personal-best performance of 12.34, just one-hundredth of a second off from the NCAA provisional mark.
“Felicia looked great in the100 meters,” said Dunham. “She’s running with a lot of confidence right now.”
Meanwhile, Teas placed third in the 400 meters (58.02), while Liz Hasenmiller (junior, Bettendorf, Davenport Assumption HS) was fourth in the pole vault (9-4.25) and Jess Fevold (junior, Iowa Falls, Webster City HS) took fifth in the javelin throw (109-8).
Men take 4×400—The Dutch men also showed progress in their marquee event, with the squad of Ben Schornack (sophomore, Urbandale), Allen Scovel (junior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS), Trevor Veach (junior, Grinnell), and Kyle Wood (junior, Newton) scoring a come-from-behind victory in the 4×400 relay with a time of 3:18.13.
Wood also placed second in the 400 meters (49.25) while Schornack was fifth in the 800 meters in a season’s best 1:54.38. Ethan Miller (junior, Seymour) was third in the long jump (22-11.25) and fifth in the 110 hurdles (15.26).
“I thought we battled through less-than-ideal conditions today and came away with a lot of positive things to build on,” said Dunham. “We have a relatively low-key week coming up before returning here for the (Drake) Relays.”
The Dutch will play host to the Central Open next Thursday at Ron and Joyce Schipper Stadium in Pella. Field events are slated for noon with running events beginning at 2 p.m.
