Kansas Relays runner-up decathlon finish for Central’s Daniels
Central Dutch Athletics
LAWRENCE, KAN. — New personal-best efforts in four of five events helped Central College men’s track and field decathlete Will Daniels (sophomore, Geneseo, Ill.) to earn silver medalist honors at the Kansas Relays Thursday.
A total of 6,673 points not only was good for second place at the event, but also moved Daniels to No.8 all-time at Central. Zach Podraza of the University of Nebraska was the winter at 6,753 points.
On the women’s side, Dutch freshmen Mary Gray (West Des Moines, Waukee HS) and Kiki Pingel (Pella) both moved up in the heptathlon standings to No. 7 and No. 11, respectively. Gray finished with 4,142 points and Pingel had 4,010. Natalie Gottschalk of Division II St. Cloud State University (Minn.) won with 4,810 points.
Daniels out in front – An improvement of seven feet on his javelin throw was just one of many solid marks for Daniels on Thursday. He tossed the javelin 166 feet, 7 inches, the second-furthest of all nine competitors remaining.
“He’s been really working with Coach Brenda (Fuller) and he takes her coaching well.” associate head coach Jim Fuller said. “He’s thrown the javelin in a meet four times in his life and he’s improved drastically each time.”
He also had new career-best outdoor marks in the 110-meter hurdles (15.68 seconds), pole vault (13-1.5) and the 1,500-meter run (5 minutes, 6.84 seconds).
“He made some progress in the pole vault today as well,” Fuller said. “It may not look like a huge thing relative to his PR, but it’s the first time he’s vaulted outside in a while and I thought he handled the elements well.”
The only event in which Daniels did not set a new best, he was two inches short of matching his previous-best discus throw at 109-9.
Freshmen making moves – Gray gained four spots with her performance on Thursday while Pingel increased by two from where she stood after day one Wednesday. In the process, they were both able to pass the measuring stick of 4,000 points.
“Getting both of them over 4,000 points is important,” Fuller said. “It’s a little barrier that you don’t want to get stuck at. I’m really happy for them, they’ve really worked at it.”
A monster improvement of 12 feet in the javelin throw was key to Gray’s day, as she was measured at 103-0 for the fifth-best throw of all competitors.
“The way she approached the event was significantly better,” Fuller said. “She’s really improved over three weeks in the javelin. She’s learning how to do this stuff.”
Gray also long jumped 15-9.75 and completed the 800-meter run in 2 minutes, 25.90 seconds.
Pingel had new career-best outdoor marks in all three events, including a time of 2:23.74 in the 800 meters that impressed Fuller.
“She competed hard in that 800,” he said. “The half-mile is a really good race for Kiki. She’s going to be a really solid half-miler in another year and she’s on her way to that right now.
A javelin throw of 84-9 was also a significant improvement for Pingel. Additionally, she started the day with a long jump of 15-9.5
Daniels, Gray and Pingel will all likely compete next weekend at either the Drake Relays in Des Moines or the Kip Janvrin Open at Indianola. The rest of the Dutch team is still set to compete this weekend either at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, California or a triangular hosted by Simpson College against the Storm and Nebraska Wesleyan University.
