League men’s track crown stays at Central
Central College
PELLA—Led by Iowa Conference Field Athlete of the Year Ethan Miller (junior, Seymour), the Central College men’s track and field squad captured their second straight Iowa Conference indoor title Saturday in front of a home crowd at H.S. Kuyper Fieldhouse. The women’s squad recorded their best indoor finish in school history, taking second after finishing fourth last year.
The Dutch men scored 212.16 points, just shy of their 2010 record (213.83), outdistancing runner-up Wartburg (183) by almost 30 points. Luther was third (75), with Loras (68.5), Cornell (67.33), Coe (44), Dubuque (35), Simpson (33), and Buena Vista (23) rounding out the field.
On the women side, heavy favorite Wartburg ran away with the team title with 251 points while the Dutch racked up 118.5 points for second. Luther was third (91) followed by Loras (85.5), Coe (64), Simpson (63), Cornell (34), Dubuque (17), and Buena Vista (17).
“This is one of the best meets that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” said coach Joe Dunham. “For our men to win and the women to take second on our home track is very special. I couldn’t be happier with our teams.”
Dunham earned Coach-of-the-Year honors for the second straight indoor season and was quick to credit his assistants.
“This award belongs to our entire staff,” said Dunham. “We have some great coaches here that make my life a lot easier.”
Central men win four more—After Miller scored three victories Friday night, his teammates stepped up with four more wins Saturday. Tyler Crouse (Hedrick, Pekin HS) easily handled the weight throw competition after entering the meet as a strong favorite, ripping off a toss of 55-4.75 on his fifth attempt to win by almost two feet over teammate and defending champion Matt Graber (senior, Newton). Graber’s runner-up mark of 53-5 was a personal best, with Phil Miller (junior, Vinton, Vinton-Shellsburg HS) taking seventh (48-4.5).
The Dutch also scored a pair of consecutive victories on the track midway through the day. Defending 400-meter dash outdoor champion Kyle Wood (junior, Newton) captured his first indoor title in a time of 50.86 seconds. Then one event later, Ben Schornack (sophomore, Urbandale) won his first league championship in the 800 meters, crossing the line in 1:56.67.
“It was great to see Ben and Kyle compete like they did,” said Dunham. “They both led wire-to-wire and didn’t leave any doubt about who wanted it the most.”
In the final event of the meet, the 4×400 relay squad of Wood, Allen Scovel (sophomore, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS), Mitch Wagoner (freshman, Iowa Falls, Iowa Falls-Alden HS), and Trevor Veach (junior, Grinnell) took first in a time of 3:27.86 to put an exclamation mark on their team title.
“That relay really summed up how we competed this weekend,” said Dunham.
After his dominant performance on Friday, Ethan Miller placed in three more events Saturday, including the triple jump (2nd, 45-2.25), 55 hurdles (4th, 8.02), and high jump (6-8.75). Fellow combined events standout Kurtis Brondyke (senior, Clinton) also contributed in those events, taking fourth in the triple jump (44-3.5), fifth in the 55 hurdles (8.05), and sixth in the high jump (6-2.75).
“Those guys are workhorses,” said Dunham. “We ask them to do a lot at conference meets and they always deliver.”
Wood narrowly missed his second individual title of the day, taking runner-up honors in the 200 meters by one-hundredth of a second (22.78). Scovel and Logan Danko (sophomore, Centerville) were fourth (6.61) and eighth (6.8) respectively in the 55 dash, while Breighen Powell (junior, Wellman, Mid-Prairie HS) was fifth in the high jump (6-2.75). The team of Kenny Kemp (junior, Waterloo, West HS), Andrew Hamer (junior, Murray), Clayton Fritz (freshman, Carlisle, Indianola HS), and Schornack captured all-league honors in the 4×800 relay, finishing third in a time of 8:12.64.
Dutch women set another league record—An outstanding season for the Central women’s 4×400 relay continued Saturday, with the squad of Jill Ziskovsky (senior, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS), Emily Teas (senior, Indianola), Rachel Purdy (sophomore, Ankeny), and Felicia Coleman (freshman, Houston, Texas, J. Frank Dobie HS) winning the event in a league-record time of 3:56.35.
“This team is having a special year,” said Dunham. “I’ve never seen them more confident than they are right now.”
Those relay members also contributed in a variety of other events, with Coleman taking second in the 55 meters (7.38) and fifth in the 200 meters (26.27). Teas was sixth in the 55 meters (7.55) and seventh in the 200 meters (26.61) with Purdy finishing sixth in the 400 meters (59.89). Meanwhile, Ziskovsky was fifth in the high jump with Caitlin Wilson (junior, Oakland, Riverside HS) placing fourth. Both cleared a height of 5-2.25, but Wilson accumulated fewer misses to place higher.
Megan Stoulil (junior, Pocahontas) was fourth in the 55 hurdles (8.73). Mel McDermott (sophomore, Britt, West Hancock HS) was eighth in the 3,000 meters (10:38.83) with a big personal best, and the 4×800 relay team of Kaity Sharp (Dike, Dike-New Hartford HS), Kristen Fariss (freshman, Batavia, Pekin HS), Molly Von Holten (senior, Walnut, Ill., Bureau Valley HS), and Eve Reinhold (Collins, Collins-Maxwell HS) placed fourth in a time of 9:52.12. The Dutch also placed three in the weight throw. Morgan Darrow followed up her shot put championship Friday with a runner-up performance (51-3.5) in the weight, followed by Jesseka Kaldenberg (sophomore, Ankeny HS) in fifth (47-5.25) and Jess Fevold (junior, Iowa Falls, Webster City HS) in sixth (47-5.25).
“We had a very balanced effort on the women’s side,” said Dunham. “They didn’t rack up a lot of individual victories but all of those second, third, fourth place finishes really add up.”
With the conference meet in the rear-view mirror, the Dutch will now turn their sights to the NCAA Division III Championships March 11-12 at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Central will take a limited squad to the Iowa State Last Chance Open next Saturday for one more attempt at national qualifying marks.
“We have a nice contingent that we feel confident about getting into the national meet,” said Dunham. “But we want more. We feel like we have several more events with a legitimate shot at qualifying next week.”
