The Central College track and field squads won three relay events in their outdoor home opener Saturday en route to a men’s team title. The women’s squad finished second. Meanwhile, a partial squad at the Washington Univ. Invitational came away with four national qualifiers in the decathlon and heptathlon.
The Dutch men accumulated 147 points to win the 11-team Central Invitational field by 29 over Iowa Conference rival Luther (118). The Norse took the women’s team trophy with 131, while Central finished second in the 11-team field after scoring 93 points.
In addition to three relay victories, the Dutch won four individual titles as well as four runner-up finishes.
The Dutch gained another national qualifier, this time in the men’s 4×100-meter relay. The team of Trevor Veach, Logan Danko, Kyle Wood and Allen Scovel crossed the line in 41.76 seconds, good for first place and surpassing the NCAA-provisional qualifying mark of 41.95 seconds. Later in the day, Veach, Scovel, and Wood teamed with Ben Schornack to win the 4×400 relay in 3:18.88. Wood and Scovel also took third (22.01) and fifth (22.34) respectively in the 200 meters, with Mitch Wagoner finishing fourth in a lifetime-best mark of 22.01 seconds.
The Dutch also completed a sweep of the middle-distance events, with Schornack taking the 1,500 meters in 4:04.91 and Austin O’Brien winning the 800 meters in 1:59.78. O’Brien was second in the 1,500 (4:05.43) with Andrew Hamer placing fifth (4:09.41).
Matt Graber took the shot put competition for the second consecutive week (49-9.25), while Phil Miller scored a big personal best to finish second in 49-1.75. Josh Fleming was fifth (45-10). Meanwhile, Tyler Crouse took second in the discus throw with a heave of 163-2.
Emery Davis was second in the triple jump (39-3.75) with Shane Hallengren close behind in third (38-10.5). Hallengren also finished fifth in the long jump (20-10.75).
The women’s squad completed a sweep of the final event with a win the 4×400 relay. The squad of Rachel Purdy, Emily Teas, Miranda Wehde, and Felicia Coleman crossed the finish line in 3:56.52, almost three seconds in front of second place and just shy of the NCAA-provisional mark of 3:56.
Coleman won the 100 meters (12.68) and also teamed up with Purdy, Teas, and Megan Stoulil to finish second in the 4×100 relay (49.48). Teas finished fourth in the 200 meters (26.3) while Stoulil was third in the 100 hurdles (16.51) after putting up the top qualifying time in the preliminary round (15.63). Mel McDermott ran a personal-best time in the 1,500 meters (4:57.06) to place fifth.
The Dutch women had a number of high finishers in the field events. Morgan Darrow and Megan Kittleson took fourth (43-0.25) and fifth (40-0.5) respectively in the shot put. Fevold also took fifth in the discus throw (129-1) and fourth in the hammer throw (132-11) with Jesseka Kaldenberg placing fifth (128-4). Kelsey Peterson was third in the javelin throw (115-10) and Shanna Aberson was fifth (100-9). Liz Hasenmiller was fifth in the pole vault (9-0.25).
Three automatic qualifiers in Missouri—First-day leaders Ethan Miller and Jill Ziskovsky stayed on track on the second day of competition to win the decathlon and heptathlon titles at the Washington Univ. Invitational. Miller, Ziskovsky, and Kurtis Brondyke posted NCAA-automatic qualifying marks while Caitlin Wilson was a provisional qualifier.
Miller won the decathlon with a lifetime-best score of 6,973 points. He recorded marks of 15.02 in the 110 hurdles, 102-2 in the discus, 14-3.25 in the pole vault, 143-11 in the javelin, and finished with a 4:54.8 effort in the 1,500 meters.
Brondyke finished second behind Miller with 6,785 points. He recorded marks of 15.37 in the 110 hurdles, 125-5 in the discus, 12-3.5 in the pole vault, 157-4 in the javelin, and finished the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:53.9.
Aaron Fuller and Breighen Powell finished fourth and seventh with final scores of 5,406 points and 5,174 points respectively.
Ziskovsky finished with 4,603 points, narrowly missing a career-best mark but more than enough to get her into the NCAA championship meet in May. She finished with marks of 17-7 in the long jump, 94-3 in the javelin throw, and 2:22.52 in the 800 meters.
Wilson gained a NCAA provisional mark with efforts of 16-1.25 in the long jump, 105-4 in the javelin throw, and 2:41.28 in the 800 meters.
Morgan Sharp and Felicia Shunk finished in seventh and ninth with scores of 3,692 points and 3,427 points respectively.
Both Central squads will send their full roster back to St. Louis, Mo., next Saturday for the Washington Univ. Select Meet.