relay April 18, 2009

Two finish second at Doane Relays

CRETE, NEB.—Central College claimed two first-place finishes at the Doane Relays Saturday.  

There were no team scores in the two-day meet.

Matt Patrick (junior, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) won the 400 meters in a career-best 49.01 seconds and also ran on the first-place 4x400-meter relay suqad. The foursome of Kyle Wood (freshman, Newton), Patrick, Luke Bolander (junior, Des Moines, East HS) and Alex Miller (junior, Adel, Van Meter HS) finished in 3:17.86.

The men’s 4x100-meter relay unit of Mitch Morris (junior, Naples, Fla., Barron Collier HS), Patrick, Wood and Trevor Veach (freshman, Grinnell) finished second (42.26 seconds). Veach was also second in the 200 meters (22.88 seconds).

Miller finished second in the 800 meters in 1:53.64, less than a second off his career best.

“Alex has never run this fast this early in the season,” coach Joe Dunham said. “I think he’s ready to run a great race.”

Matt Graber (sophomore, Newton) was third in the shot put (50 feet, 8.25 inches).

Also placing third was Derek Townsend (junior, Perry), with a career-best 4:01.83 in the 1,500 meters with Teddy Clark (senior, Montgomery, Ill., Oswego HS) fourth in 4:02.69. Townsend also finished sixth in the 800 meters (1:56.23).

“Derek was unbelievable in the 1,500,” Dunham said. “That was a PR (personal record) by more than 5 seconds.”

Ethan Miller (freshman, Seymour) was fifth in the long jump (22-5.75) while Wood placed fifth in the 100 meters (11.23 seconds), just ahead of Morris in sixth (11.34 seconds). Jordan Gegner (junior, Martensdale, St. Marys HS) was sixth in the 400-meter hurdles (56.35 seconds).

Peterson, Teas second for women—Kelsey Peterson (sophomore, Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS) was second in the javelin at 123-5, nearly 4 feet past her previous best and less than 4 feet shy of the NCAA Division III meet provisional qualifying standard.

“Kelsey keeps getting closer and closer to the provisional,” Dunham said.

Emily Teas (sophomore, Indianola) was second in the 200 meters (26.32 seconds) with Jill Ziskovsky (sophomore, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) fifth (26.90 seconds).

Central was also second in the 4x400-meter relay. The unit of Teas, Rachelle Tipton (junior, Newton), Amanda Mosinski (sophomore, Packwood, Pekin HS) and Ziskovsky turned in a season-best 3:59.05.

Mosinski was third in the 400-meter hurdles (1:07.99) with Taylor Schuelke (freshman, Rosemount, Minn.) sixth (1:09.83).

Caitlin Wilson (freshman, Oakland, Riverside HS) was fifth in the high jump (5-2.25), a height matched by Schuelke, who was seventh. Wilson was sixth in the 100-meter hurdles in a career-best 16.13 seconds.

Rachel Boeke (senior, Cedar Rapids, Jefferson HS) was fifth in the shot put (40-7.75).

“It’s good to see Rachel getting back where she needs to be,” Dunham said.

Ziskovsky and Carissa Bentz (junior, Ute, Boyer Valley HS) tied for sixth in the long jump (16-6) while Kelsey Manecke (sophomore, Pella) was sixth in the 100 meters (13.39 seconds). Molly Von Holten (sophomore, Walnut, Ill., Bureau Valley HS) was sixth in the 1,500 meters (5:07.72).

The foursome of Manecke, Tipton, Teas and Mosinski was sixth in the 4x100-meter relay (51.72 seconds).

“It was a pretty good day for the most part,” Dunham said. “We need to keep improving every week. We still have some work to do before the conference meet (May 8-9), but things are coming together pretty nicely.”

The Dutch are awaiting word on which relay units will be accepted for the Drake Relays in Des Moines Friday and Saturday. Dunham is hoping to send the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relays for the women with the 4x100, 4x200, 4x400 and shuttle hurdle relays looking to compete for the men.

The remainder of the Central squads will travel to Indianola for the Kip Janvrin Invitational, slated to start at noon.

“We’ll have one more week of hammering it a little bit in practice and then lay off a bit the next week as we try to get ready for conference,” Dunham said.