Central track squads make final bid for NCAA berths
Central College
NAPERVILLE, ILL.—The Central College men’s and women’s track squads concluded their regular season schedule at the North Central (Ill.) Gregory Invitational Friday night with a number of personal-best performances.
The women’s 4×400 meter relay squad 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) opted out of the relay, having already earned an NCAA automatic-qualifying bid, and competed in the 400 meter dash instead. Ziskovsky crossed the line sixth overall in an NCAA provisional time of 57.15 seconds. Coleman was seventh (57.4), Teas was eighth (57.5), and Purdy was 12th (58.77). All of the marks were lifetime bests.
That same squad competed earlier in the day in the 4×100 relay, crossing the line in fifth place in an NCAA-provisional time of 48.43 seconds, but it wasn’t faster than their previous season’s best of 48.19.
“That relay group seems to run well whether or not they have a baton in their hands,” said coach Joe Dunham. “They are competing at a very high level right now.”
Megan Stoulil (junior, Pocahontas) narrowly missed an NCAA provisional mark in the hurdles, finishing seventh in the prelims with a personal best time of 15.03 seconds, just four hundredths of a second from the qualifying mark (14.99 seconds). Mel McDermott (sophomore, Britt, West Hancock HS) crushed her personal best in the 5,000 meters, finishing eleventh in a time of 17:55.37, improving her previous mark by almost 25 seconds (18:19.27).
“Megan even had a bad start in the prelims,” said Dunham. “So she knows that she can go faster. It’s a great way to finish off her season.”
Meanwhile, Morgan Darrow (junior, Newell, Storm Lake HS) competed at the Augustana Twilight Qualifier in Rock Island, Ill. and uncorked another school record mark of 167-5 in the hammer throw, breaking her previous record of 165-3 and moving her up to 19th in the national rankings.
“Morgan just keeps getting better in the hammer throw,” said Dunham. “She already has a solid mark in the shot put so it would be nice to get her qualified in two events.”
The men’s 4×400-meter squad of Ethan Miller (junior, Seymour), Trevor Veach (junior, Grinnell), Phil Heisterkamp (sophomore, Jefferson, Jefferson-Scranton HS), and Kyle Wood (senior, Newton) finished eighth overall in a time of 3:19.33, not fast enough for an NCAA berth.
The Dutch will now have to wait and see how many events will be accepted to the NCAA Division III Championships beginning Thursday in Delaware, Ohio. Entries will be announced Sunday afternoon.
“We’re anxious to see how many get into the national meet,” said Dunham. “We should have a very quality going to Ohio next week.”
