Central dominates relays in home invitational
Central College
PELLA—The Central College track and field squads won three relay events in their outdoor home opener Saturday en route to a men’s team title. The women’s squad finished second. Meanwhile, a partial squad at the Washington Univ. (Mo.) Invitational came away with four national qualifiers in the decathlon and heptathlon.
The Dutch men accumulated 147 points to win the 11-team Central Invitational field by 29 over Iowa Conference rival Luther (118). The Norse took the women’s team trophy with 131, while Central finished second in the 11-team field after scoring 93 points.
In addition to three relay victories, the Dutch won four individual titles as well as four runner-up finishes.
The Dutch gained another national qualifier, this time in the men’s 4×100-meter relay. The team of Trevor Veach (junior, Grinnell), Logan Danko (sophomore, Centerville), Kyle Wood (junior, Newton) and Allen Scovel (junior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS) crossed the line in 41.76 seconds, good for first place and surpassing the NCAA-provisional qualifying mark of 41.95 seconds. Later in the day, Veach, Scovel, and Wood teamed with Ben Schornack (sophomore, Urbandale) to win the 4×400 relay in 3:18.88. Wood and Scovel also took third (22.01) and fifth (22.34) respectively in the 200 meters, with Mitch Wagoner (freshman, Alden, Iowa Falls-Alden HS) finishing fourth in a lifetime-best mark of 22.01 seconds.
“They had some clean exchanges on that 4×100,” said coach Joe Dunham. “Getting a strong provisional in early April will set them up well for the rest of the season. I expect that they’ll lower that by quite a bit.”
The Dutch also completed a sweep of the middle-distance events, with Schornack taking the 1,500 meters in 4:04.91 and Austin O’Brien (freshman, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley HS) winning the 800 meters in 1:59.78. O’Brien was second in the 1,500 (4:05.43) with Andrew Hamer (junior, Murray) placing fifth (4:09.41).
“Austin O’Brien had a breakthrough meet today,” said Dunham. “He was injured for a lot of the indoor season but has looked great in practice and showed it today.”
Matt Graber (senior, Newton) took the shot put competition for the second consecutive week (49-9.25), while Phil Miller (junior, Vinton, Vinton-Shellsburg HS) scored a big personal best to finish second in 49-1.75. Josh Fleming was fifth (45-10). Meanwhile, Tyler Crouse (junior, Hedrick, Pekin HS) took second in the discus throw with a heave of 163-2.
Emery Davis (Crawfordsville, Winfield-Mt. Union HS) was second in the triple jump (39-3.75) with Shane Hallengren (senior, Estherville) close behind in third (38-10.5). Hallengren also finished fifth in the long jump (20-10.75).
Meanwhile, the women’s squad completed a sweep of the final event with a win the 4×400 relay. The squad of Rachel Purdy (sophomore, Ankeny), Emily Teas (senior, Indianola), Miranda Wehde (freshman, Tipton), and Felicia Coleman (sophomore, Houston, Texas, Frank J. Dobie HS) crossed the finish line in 3:56.52, almost three seconds in front of second place and just shy of the NCAA-provisional mark of 3:56.
“Miranda Wehde ran a great leg,” said Dunham. “To run that well without one of your top runners says a lot about our depth in that event.”
Coleman won the 100 meters (12.68) and also teamed up with Purdy, Teas, and Megan Stoulil (junior, Pocahontas) to finish second in the 4×100 relay (49.48). Teas finished fourth in the 200 meters (26.3) while Stoulil was third in the 100 hurdles (16.51) after putting up the top qualifying time in the preliminary round (15.63). Meanwhile, Mel McDermott (sophomore, Britt, West Hancock HS) ran a personal-best time in the 1,500 meters (4:57.06) to place fifth.
Meanwhile, the Dutch women had a number of high finishers in the field events. Morgan Darrow (junior, Newell, Storm Lake HS) and Megan Kittleson (junior, Osage) took fourth (43-0.25) and fifth (40-0.5) respectively in the shot put. Fevold also took fifth in the discus throw (129-1) and fourth in the hammer throw (132-11) with Jesseka Kaldenberg (sophomore, Ankeny) placing fifth (128-4). Kelsey Peterson (senior, Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS) was third in the javelin throw (115-10) and Shanna Aberson (sophomore, Orange City, MOC-Floyd Valley HS) was fifth (100-9). Liz Hasenmiller (junior, Bettendorf, Davenport Assumption HS) was fifth in the pole vault (9-0.25).
Three automatic qualifiers in Missouri—First-day leaders Ethan Miller (junior, Seymour) and Jill Ziskovsky (senior, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) stayed on track on the second day of competition to win the decathlon and heptathlon titles at the Washington Univ. Invitational. Miller, Ziskovsky, and Kurtis Brondyke (senior, Clinton) posted NCAA-automatic qualifying marks while Caitlin Wilson (junior, Oakland, Riverside HS) was a provisional qualifier.
“Coming away from this meet with three automatic qualifiers is great,” said associate head coach Guy Mosher. “It’s nice to put up a good mark early.”
Miller won the decathlon with a lifetime-best score of 6,973 points. He recorded marks of 15.02 in the 110 hurdles, 102-2 in the discus, 14-3.25 in the pole vault, 143-11 in the javelin, and finished with a 4:54.8 effort in the 1,500 meters.
Brondyke finished second behind Miller with 6,785 points. He recorded marks of 15.37 in the 110 hurdles, 125-5 in the discus, 12-3.5 in the pole vault, 157-4 in the javelin, and finished the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:53.9.
Aaron Fuller (sophomore, Aberdeen, S.D., Roncalli HS) and Breighen Powell (junior, Wellman, Mid-Prairie HS) finished fourth and seventh with final scores of 5,406 points and 5,174 points respectively.
Ziskovsky finished with 4,603 points, narrowly missing a career-best mark but more than enough to get her into the NCAA championship meet in May. She finished with marks of 17-7 in the long jump, 94-3 in the javelin throw, and 2:22.52 in the 800 meters.
“Jill is 150 points ahead of where she was last year in her first heptathlon,” said Mosher.
Wilson gained a NCAA provisional mark with efforts of 16-1.25 in the long jump, 105-4 in the javelin throw, and 2:41.28 in the 800 meters.
Meanwhile, Morgan Sharp (sophomore, Grinnell) and Felicia Shunk (junior, Bloomfield, Davis County HS) finished in seventh and ninth with scores of 3,692 points and 3,427 points respectively.
Both Central squads will send their full roster back to St. Louis, Mo., next Saturday for the Washington Univ. Select Meet.
