Rachelle Tipton Feb. 20, 2009

Strong showings for Central at UNI-Dome

CEDAR FALLS—Central College junior Angie Berry (Norwalk) captured the 3,000-meter run and the Dutch women’s and men’s indoor track and field squads turned in a host of personal-best performances at the UNI-Dome Open Friday.

No team scores were kept.

Berry led a Central assault on the 3,000, finishing in 10:40.04, as three other Dutch runners were in the top six. Jess Clark (senior, Port Byron, Ill., Riverdale HS) was third in a personal best 10:42.80, with Amy Ledvina (junior, Toledo, South Tama HS) fourth in a personal best 10:45.81 and Amber Mayer (junior, Essex, Shenandoah HS) sixth in her best, 11:00.99.

“They just ran out of their minds,” coach Joe Dunham said. “All four of them ran a great race.

“We had a good day overall. We were hoping to run a little faster in a couple of spots, but for the most part we ran well.”

Dunham said swift times are expected at the UNI-Dome track.

“It’s a really hard surface, so it tends to be pretty fast,” he said.

Emily Teas (sophomore, Indianola) was third in the 400 meters in her best time, 59.74 seconds. She was also sixth in the 200 meters (26.94 seconds). Rachelle Tipton (junior, Newton) was third in the 800 meters (2:23.95). Caitlin Wilson (freshman, Oakland, Riverside HS) cleared 5 feet, 2.25 inches in the high jump, also her best, taking sixth, while Carissa Bentz (junior, Ute, Boyer Valley HS) was sixth in the long jump in another best, 17-1.25. Danielle Francois (senior, Alburnett) was sixth in the weight throw (42-5.25).

The unit of Jill Ziskovsky (sophomore, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS), Teas, Tipton and Amanda Mosinski (sophomore, Packwood, Pekin HS) was second in the 4x400-meter relay (4:06.87). Eve Reinhold (sophomore, Collins, Collins-Maxwell HS), Sara Davis (freshman, Melbourne, West Marshall HS), Melanie Louis (freshman, Davenport, Central HS) and Meghann Burt (sophomore, Slater, Ankeny Christian HS) took fourth in the distance medley relay (13:31.36).

Clark third in 3,000—Senior Teddy Clark (Montgomery, Ill., Oswego HS) continued his strong indoor campaign, finishing third in the 3,000 meters in his personal best, 9:02.89. Jaron Byrum (senior, Mount Union, New London HS) was sixth (9:15.89). In the high jump, freshman Ethan Miller (Seymour) was third as well, clearing 6-5.5. Breighen Powell (sophomore, Wellman, Mid-Prairie HS) was fifth (6-3.5).

“Ethan stayed pretty consistent,” Dunham said. “He should have cleared 6-7. He just clipped it with his heel.”

Josh Garrison (freshman, Maxwell, Collins-Maxwell HS) was sixth in the shot put (47-2.5) with Matt Graber (sophomore, Newton) sixth in the weight throw (48-8). Matt Patrick (junior, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) was fifth in the 400 meters in a personal best 50.99 seconds. Derek Townsend (junior, Perry) was fourth in the 800 meters (1:58.41), followed closely in fifth by Alex Miller (junior, Adel, Van Meter HS) (1:58.54).

“It was good to see Alex under 2 minutes again,” Dunham said.

Townsend, Morgan Ganoe (freshman, Scranton, Jefferson-Scranton HS), Dustin Draisey (sophomore, Keota) and Cory Hall (junior, Guthrie Center) took third in the distance medley relay (11:11.38). The unit of Kyle Wood, Alex Miller, Luke Bolander (junior, Des Moines, East HS) and Patrick was fourth in the 4x400-meter relay (3:24.93).                                                                                                                                

Dunham and his staff will have a busy week as they make personnel decisions for the Iowa Conference indoor meet at Waverly Friday and Saturday. The Dutch men were third in last year’s indoor league meet while the women were fourth. Host Wartburg College is a heavy favorite to repeat as champions in the women’s division with the Knights also likely to do well in the men’s division.