The Central College Track and Field teams completed the second day of the American Rivers Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships Friday. The men currently sit a half point behind first place, while the women’s team is in third.
Three individual champions and nine all-conference performers highlighted Friday’s action for the Central College men’s team. Sam Beatty defended his outdoor high jump title, winning for the second year in a row after clearing the bar at 6 feet, 10.25 inches, while Drake Lewis tied for third. Central took four of the eight scoring spots in the decathlon. Brody Klein led the way with a title-winning 6,413 points and Reid Pakkebier earned all-conference status with a runner-up total of 6,294 points. Jaxon Thompson finished in fourth (6,243 points) and Nick Thompson was eighth (5,453 points). Long jumper Brock Lewis reestablished his school record for the third time this season (24-10.5) to win the event. Another school record fell as the 4×800-meter relay team of Adam Sylvia, Jack Sagan, Noah Jorgenson, and Will DeHaan crossed the line in 7 minutes, 36.91 seconds to finish second. Discus thrower Theo Baldus finished runner-up with a toss of 161-6. Also adding scoring performances was Thatcher Krob (5th – 9:19.48) and Caleb Silver (6th – 9:23.71) in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and Thomas Spoehr chipped in a point by finishing eighth in the shot put (47-0.75). Lucas Heitz and Connor Miklos both qualified for Saturday’s 110-meter hurdle finals, and also qualifying for a Saturday final was Jorgenson in the 800 meters (5th – 1:52.71), Nolan Reynolds in the 400 meters (6th – 49.42) and Carter Tryon in the 400 hurdles (7th – 56.54)
Four all-conference efforts were the highlight Friday for the Dutch women’s team. Krissa Larson was the heptathlon runner-up with 4,082 points. She had the best javelin throw in the field (106-5) and the second-best long jump (16-2.5). Teammate Rayna Sickels just missed the all-conference podium, placing fourth with 3,569 points. Allison Van Gorp finished third in the discus throw (131-2) and was also eighth in the shot put (40-6.25). Malory Jones finished third in the high jump (5-5). Overcoming a fall late in the race, Caroline McMartin recovered to finish third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:00.28), and Megan Johnson was seventh (11:36.35). Hailey Hill was sixth in the 10,000 meters (39:39.82) and the quartet of Abby Alberti, Alyssa Mayhew, Lauren Coon and Natalie Patterson was sixth in the 4×800-meter relay (9:58.23). Four Dutch runners qualified for finals on Saturday: Abby Gruver in the 400 hurdles (4th – 1:06.04), Abbi Roerdink and Lauren in the 400 meters (4th – 58.22, 8th – 1:00.25), and Sickels in the 100 hurdles (8th – 16.19).
The third and final day of the conference meet starts today at 10 a.m. with field events and the running events start at 1:30 p.m.