May 8, 2009

Central grabs early league lead

PELLA—With seven events in the books at the 2009 Iowa Conference outdoor track and field championships the Central College women’s team is sitting in first place while the Dutch men are second.     

The Central women’s team racked up 74.5 points and is currently sitting ahead of meet favorite Wartburg (61). Luther sits in third with 53 points, followed by Loras (27), Simspon (25.5), Coe (20) and Cornell (12) rounding out the field.

Loras leads the men’s competition after six events with 66 points, outpacing Central with 56. Rounding out the rest of the field is Wartburg (37), Luther (24), Cornell (20), Buena Vista (12), Simpson (10) and Coe (9).

“This is very exciting for the first day,” said head coach Joe Dunham of Central’s day one performances. “We’re ahead of where I thought we’d be on both the men’s and women’s sides, and I think that’s a tribute to the athletes and they represented Central extremely well today.”

Live coverage online—Check out live video and results of Saturday’s events at www.central.edu/athletics and stay up to date on all the action.

Field events—The Dutch snagged second through fourth place in the men’s long jump. Freshman Ethan Miller (Seymour) was second with a new personal best of 22 feet, 10.5 inches, sophomore Kurtis Brondyke (Clinton) was third at 22-4.5 and sophomore Shane Hallengren (Estherville) set a new personal best to take fourth with a jump of 22-3.5. The Dutch women also placed three in the long as junior Carissa Bentz (Ute, Boyer Valley HS) got second with a distance of 17-9, a new personal best, sophomore Jill Ziskovsky (Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) also put up a new personal best to take fourth at 17-3.5, and freshman Caitlin Wilson (Oakland, Riverside HS) was eighth at 16-4.5. 

In the hammer throw freshman Tyler Crouse (Hedrick, Pekin HS) and sophomore Matt Graber (Newton) both topped previous bests. Crouse took fourth with a toss of 160-05 while Graber was sixth at 156-04.

In the men’s pole vault sophomore Noah Mortell (Dallas Center, Waukee HS) and senior Greg Foote (Maple Grove, Minn.) each cleared 13-1 to finish fifth and seventh, respectively. Junior Ashley L. Feldman (Alleman, North Polk HS) placed second in the women’s pole vault clearing the bar at 8-11.75 and freshman Liz Hasenmiller (Bettendorf, Assumption HS) took fifth with a new personal best height of 8-6.

Central placed three in the women’s high jump led by freshman Wilsonin fourth place with a height of 5-1.25. Freshman Taylor Schuelke (Rosemount, Minn.) placed fifth and sophomore Ziskovskywas sixth, both clearing 4-11.5.

In the women’s javelin throw junior Bentzset a new personal best with a throw of 122-7, good for third place, and sophomore Kelsey Petersen (Waverly, Waverly Shell-Rock HS) placed fifth (110-3). On the men’s side freshman Matt Golden (Davenport, Assumption HS) threw the javelin 157-1 for seventh place.    

Running events—In the only running final on day one of action, juniors Angie Berry (Norwalk) and Amber Mayer (Essex, Shenandoah HS) stayed with the lead pack of five runners for the first 20 laps before finishing seconds apart in fourth and fifth, respectively. Berry clocked 39:35.17 while Mayer came across in 39:41.51.

Senior Jaron Byrum (Mount Union, New London HS) finished the men’s 10,000-meter run in 33:13.15 to take sixth place.

“We had a good day today and we just need to come out ready to compete (Saturday),” Dunham said. “It can be hard to keep the intensity it up, but we need to come back with it tomorrow, take care of business and not leave anything to chance.”

The Iowa Conference track and field championships will continue Saturday morning with field events beginning at 10 a.m. with the women’s triple jump and running events starting at 1 p.m. with the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final. For a complete schedule of Saturday’s events visit www.central.edu/athletics and check out the track and field conference championship Web site.