The Central College women’s and men’s track teams came away with nine NCAA qualifiers at the Monmouth Invitational this past Saturday, highlighted by an automatic-qualifying mark in the high jump by Ethan Miller.
The Dutch men finished in second place after racking up 148 points with host Monmouth scoring 208.5 for the win. Central’s women were third with 131 points while the Fighting Scots also won the women’s title with 191.6 points.
Miller equaled his career best on Saturday with a mark of six feet, 11 inches; finishing in a tie for second after two other competitors also jumped 6-11. Miller also won the long jump with a mark of 23-4.5. That performance surpassed the NCAA-provisional standard but did not move him up on the national rankings, where he currently sits in a tie for seventh.
Meanwhile, the men’s 4×100-meter relay squad of Trevor Veach, Mitch Wagoner, Kyle Wood and Allen Scovel crossed the line first in a time of 41.48 seconds. That mark moves them up to sixth in the national rankings and all but assures them a spot at the national meet.
The Central women swept both relay events Saturday with NCAA-provisional qualifying marks. Rachel Purdy, Emily Teas, Felicia Coleman and Jill Ziskovsky crossed the line in the 4×100 relay with a time of 48.61 seconds, while Purdy, Teas, Coleman, and Miranda Wehde finished the 4×400 relay in 3:52.62. Neither mark improved their national ranking but they are still second in the 4×400 relay and 15th in the 4×100 relay.
Morgan Darrow improved her season’s best in the shot put, finishing with a NCAA-provisional mark of 43-4.5. She also won the hammer throw (163-11) and is ranked 18th nationally in both events.
The Dutch will begin the championship portion of their outdoor season with the Iowa Conference meet slated to begin today at Cornell College in Mount Vernon.
Central’s men are the two-time defending indoor and outdoor champions and have won 12 of the past 20 outdoor titles. The Dutch women placed third last year and have recorded a top-three finish in eight of the past nine seasons.