In their first action of 2025, the Central College men’s and women’s track and field teams were dominant across a range of events Friday afternoon at the Dutch Athletics Classic. There were no team scores in the field that also included Grinnell College, Quincy University (Ill.) and Faith Baptist Bible College.

Kale Purcell swept the horizontal jumps Friday, highlighted by a season-best 47 feet, 11.25 inches in the triple jump. He also won the long jump with a mark of 22’ 2.25”. Connor Miklos topped the field in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.31 seconds and was runner-up in the 60-meter dash in 7.11 seconds. Other individual champions for the Central men included Jrake Van Hemert in the 600 meters (1:25.36), Blake Creed in the 800 meters (2:42.44), Jack Brown in the mile (4:26.49), Dylan Maurer in the pole vault (13-7.25), Gunner Meyer in the high jump (6-3.25) and Tommy Morlan in the shot put (30-3.5).

For the Central women, a record-setting day in a mid-distance race was one of nine individual event titles at their home meet. Peyton Steffen reestablished the school record in the 1,000-meter race by winning in a time of 2 minutes, 56.79 seconds. Teammate Addison Parrott also had a personal best time of 3:02.77 to take second place. The Dutch went 1-2-3 in the 60-meter dash finals as Emily McMartin won in 7.91 seconds, Ava Parkins was second in 7.92 and Mary Gustason was third in 8.05. Other individual champions for the Dutch women on the track were Paige Davis in the 60-meter hurdles (9.96 seconds), Lizzy Van Utrecht in the 300 meters (43.05), and Alivia Roerdink in the 600 meters (1:43.22). In the field events, Abigail White matched her personal best to win the high jump (5’ 1.25”), Amber Vroman topped the pole vault (11’ 1.75”) and Karlee Warnke won the long jump (16’ 1.75”).

Central travels to the Prairie Wolf Invitational hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University next Friday in Lincoln.