Pape, Daniels win events at Blue Oval Invitational
Central Dutch Athletics
DES MOINES — A pair of national qualifiers from the indoor season won individual titles to highlight the Blue Oval Invitational for the Central College men’s track and field team on Saturday.
There were no team scores kept in the meet hosted at Drake Stadium that featured athletes from Division II and NAIA athletes in addition to Central and Simpson College.
Kyle Pape’s (senior, Dubuque, Wahlert Catholic HS) first 800-meter run of the outdoor season resulted in a time of 1:56.22 and a first-place finish. Will DeHaan (freshman, DeWitt, Central DeWitt HS) was fourth in 1:58.52.
“We’ve talked about Kyle and he just continues to get better,” coach Brandon Sturman said. “(Associate head) coach Dunham has a good plan for him and he’ll keep picking the right meets to do the right races so he can peak when he needs to.”
Will Daniels (junior, Geneseo, Ill.) continues to inch his way closer to breaking the 15-second barrier in the 110-meter hurdles. He ran a career-best for the second consecutive week, winning the event in 15.09 seconds. Drake Lewis (sophomore, Lathrop, Mo.) was fourth in 16.05 seconds.
“It was awesome,” “He’s running fast and he’s feeling good.”
In the 4×100-meter relay, Caleb Jennings (senior, Spirit Lake), Brock Lewis (freshman, Lathrop, Mo.), Carter Tryon (freshman, Winterset) and Cory Suedmeier (junior, Ankeny, Centennial HS) finished second in 32.61 seconds.
Tryon also was the runner-up in the 400-meter hurdles (57.72 seconds) while Suedmeier was fifth in the 400-meter dash (51.32 seconds).
“That was a pretty good PR for Carter in the 400 hurdles,” Sturman said.
Only four field events remained after several were contested Friday night. Nathan Fitzgerald (senior, Elkader, Central HS) was third in the discus throw (145 feet, 2 inches) and eighth in the hammer throw (143-1. Tanner Johnson (sophomore, Gallatin, Mo.) was second in the pole vault (12-11.75) and Brock Lewis was fifth in the long jump (20-6.5)
The Dutch will be split up at three meets next week. A few athletes will head to the Kansas Relays and Bryan Clay Invitational while the majority of the squad will compete at Nebraska Wesleyan University on Friday.
