Central track squads heat up in Missouri

Central College

ST. LOUIS, MO.—The Central College men’s and women’s track squads found summer temperatures at the Washington University-St. Louis (Mo.) Select Meet Saturday and responded with 13 event titles including six NCAA provisional qualifiers.

The Dutch men took the team title for the second consecutive week after racking up 179 points, outdistancing host Washington-St. Louis (141) by almost 40 points. The Central women placed third after accumulating 116 points with Washington-St. Louis placing first with 158 points.

“We had a lot of very good performances today,” said coach Joe Dunham. “The conditions were a challenge but I thought both teams showed a lot of focus and intensity.”

Men take both relays—For the second week in a row, the Dutch men captured both relay events. The 4×100-meter team of Trevor Veach (junior, Grinnell), Logan Danko (sophomore, Centerville), Kyle Wood (senior, Newton), and Allen Scovel (junior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS) crossed the line in a scorching 41.54 seconds, improving on their previous NCAA provisional-qualifying mark and making a strong push for the national championships in May. The foursome of Ben Schornack (sophomore, Urbandale), Ethan Miller (junior, Seymour), Kurtis Brondyke (senior, Clinton), and Wood then scored a come-from-behind victory in the meet’s final event, the 4×400 relay (3:17.88).

Those relay members also scored a bevy of points in the open events. Scovel captured the 100 meters (10.96), with teammates Mitch Wagoner (freshman, Alden, Iowa Falls-Alden HS) and Danko close behind in third (11.07) and fourth (11.11) respectively. Scovel also took second in the 200 meters (22.0), along with Veach in fourth (22.19) and Wagoner in fifth (22.3). Wood dominated the 400 meters with an NCAA-automatic qualifying time of 47.4 seconds while Schornack won the 800 meters in 1:54.73 after placing fifth in the 1,500 meters (4:01.02).

“Our goal wasn’t necessarily to score a lot of points,” said Dunham. “But today we did because of some great efforts by the whole team.”

Meanwhile, Austin O’Brien (freshman, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley HS) took second in the 3,000 meters (9:13.69) with Brandon Clough (sophomore, Marshalltown, GMG HS) finishing fourth (9:22.27). Nolan Blythe (freshman, Orange City, MOC-Floyd Valley HS) finished fifth in the 110 hurdles (16.36)

The Dutch men added four more victories in the field events. Miller won the pole vault with a personal-best leap of 15 feet, three inches with Nick Lemmon (freshman, Kent, Wash., Kent-Meridian HS) taking fourth (13-5.25). Central took four of the top five spots in the shot put with Matt Graber (senior, Newton) placing first (51-3) and surpassing the NCAA provisional qualifying standard. Phil Miller (junior, Vinton, Vinton-Shellsburg HS) was second (47-8.5), Steve Messerschmit (freshman, Neola, Tri-Center HS) was fourth (44-2.75), and Josh Fleming (sophomore, Caseyville, Ill., Collinsville HS) was fifth (44-2). Tyler Crouse (junior, Hedrick, Pekin HS) was first in the discus throw (155-0) while also taking runner-up in the hammer throw (165-3) with Graber placing third (160-11) and Jesse Joyce (junior, Maxwell, Collins-Maxwell HS) in fifth (146-5). Brondyke and Jamieson Rosien (senior, Norwalk, Washington HS) were first (174-1) and second (169-7) respectively in the javelin throw.

“Our men’s throwers had a solid day,” said Dunham. “Coach Walz has been doing a great job with them.”

Darrow breaks hammer throw record—Morgan Darrow (junior, Newell, Storm Lake HS) continued her assault on Central’s record books Saturday en route to two individual titles. Darrow started the day with another victory in the shot put (41-7) before snapping an eight-year school record with a toss of 164-5 in the hammer throw, which also placed her on the NCAA provisional qualifier list in that event. The previous record of 156-1 was set in 2003 by Jenn Hansen.

“Everyone here knows Morgan is a good shot putter,” said Dunham. “But she showed her versatility today.”

The Dutch women also smothered the shot put field, placing three more in the top five behind Darrow including Megan Kittleson (junior, Osage) in second (39-11.5), Jess Fevold (junior, Iowa Falls, Webster City HS) in third (38-8.25) and Jessica Stika (freshman, Cresco, Crestwood HS) in fifth (35-5.25). Fevold and Jesseka Kaldenberg (sophomore, Ankeny) took fourth (130-4) and fifth (129-5) in the hammer throw while Stika and Fevold took second (122-3) and third (114-11) respectively in the discus throw. Caitlin Wilson (junior, Oakland, Riverside HS) was third in the javelin (112-11), with Fevold in fourth (108-11) and Kelsey Peterson (senior, Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS) in fifth (107-2).

Back on the track, Felicia Coleman (sophomore, Houston, Texas, J. Frank Dobie HS) had a part in two victories Saturday, winning the 200 meters in a personal best and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 24.68 seconds before teaming with Jill Ziskovsky (senior, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS), Emily Teas (senior, Indianola), and Miranda Wehde (freshman, Tipton) to run a season’s best time of 3:51.92 in the 4×400 relay, blowing by the NCAA provisional standard in that event. Coleman, Ziskovsky, Teas, and Rachel Purdy (sophomore, Ankeny) also ran an NCAA provisional time in the 4×100 relay, crossing the line in 48.19 seconds.

“The women sprinters really ran well today,” said Dunham. “They walked away from the meet today with two very solid qualifying times in the relays.”

Other notable performances include Liz Hasenmiller (junior, Bettendorf, Davenport Assumption HS) taking second in the pole vault with a personal-best effort of 9-8 while Wilson and Morgan Sharp were fourth (16-10.75) and fifth (16-7) respectively in the long jump. Mel McDermott (sophomore, Britt, West Hancock HS) placed fifth in the 1,500 meters with personal-best mark of 4:55.45 and Ashley Nelson (senior, Otley, Knoxville HS) took fifth in the 400 hurdles with a time of 1:12.43.

“The entire coaching staff felt good about how we competed today,” said Dunham. “We only have a few more weeks until the Drake Relays and championship meets begin so we’re looking to carry this momentum into the rest of the season.”

The Dutch will compete at the Jim Duncan Classic at Drake University in Des Moines next week, with several distance events being staged Friday evening and the bulk of the meet commencing Saturday.