Kurtis Brondyke May 22, 2009

Two all-Americans for Central

MARIETTA, OHIO—Two Central College athletes attained all-American status at the NCAA Division III track and field meet Friday.

On another sultry, still day in Ohio, Kurtis Brondyke (sophomore, Clinton) took fifth in the men’s decathlon while Rachel Boeke (senior, Cedar Rapids, Jefferson HS) earned all-America honors in the women’s discus, finishing eighth.

“We’re certainly excited about it,” coach Joe Dunham said. “We’re pretty pleased with the way they performed.”

Brondyke racked up 6,809 points, just two points behind fourth-place Ben Harmon of Washington Univ. (Mo.). Linfield College (Ore.) junior Josh Lovell won the title with 7,080 points, topping his brother, junior Jeremy Lovell, who was second with 6,857. Brondyke’s previous high point total was 6,491, posted in winning the Iowa Conference meet at Pella May 1-2.

Central freshman Ethan Miller (Seymour) was 13th in the decathlon with 6,414 points, 30 points short of his previous best. Another freshman, Tyler Crouse (Hedrick, Pekin HS), failed to reach the finals in the discus in his NCAA debut. He was eighth in his flight at 142 feet, 9 inches, well off his career best of 166-1.

Dutch teammates Jill Ziskovsky (sophomore, Dallas Center, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) and Carissa Bentz (junior, Ute, Boyer Valley HS) finished the women’s heptathlon within a point of each other. Ziskovsky was 15th with 4,244 points with Bentz 16th at 4,243. Ashley Huston, a senior from Hardin-Simmons Univ. (Texas) won with 5,242 points.

Boeke, making her first NCAA meet appearance at the close of a strong career, was Central’s first placewinner of the week. On her third throw of the preliminaries Friday she hit 137 feet, 3 inches, her best toss of the day and that held up for eighth place. Ellie Sitek of Wis.-Oshkosh won with 157-3.

“Rachel really put it together,” Dunham said. “It was a great effort. She had two pretty sub-par throws and really needed to let one fly and she did. She went from 18th to eighth place in one throw. That’s a tribute to her, her ability to adjust and not let the pressure get to her.”

Brondyke recorded career bests in four of Friday’s five decathlon events. He was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles (15.47 seconds), fourth in the discus (121-0), 14th in the pole vault (11-7.75), ninth in the javelin (154-7) and 12th in the 1,500 meters (4:53.15). Only the discus measurement didn’t surpass his previous best.

“Kurtis came ready to go,” Dunham said. “He just had a great day. Now he just has to push to get better in the off-season. There are still a lot of improvements he can make.”

It’s the third time Brondyke has received all-America honors. He was sixth in the pentathlon at the NCAA Division III indoor meet in March, and finished fourth in the long jump at the NCAA outdoor meet last year.

Miller, who was eighth in the NCAA pentathlon in March, Friday was eighth in the 110-meter hurdles (15.72 seconds), 16th in the discus (93-4), 14th in the pole vault (11-7.75), 14th in the javelin (137-0) and 13th in the 1,500 meters (4:55.95). Miller had career bests in the hurdles, pole vault and javelin in finishing 13th of 18 qualifiers. Now he must make a quick recovery to compete in the high jump Saturday morning.

“He just needs to get his mind off the multi-events now,” Dunham said. “I know he’s disappointed he wasn’t an all-American, that was one of his goals, but he needed some things to go his way and it just didn’t happen. But he’s got another opportunity tomorrow and I think he’ll respond well.”

Likewise, Crouse has a bright future, Dunham said, after failing to advance in the discus Friday.

“This was a really good learning experience for him,” Dunham said. “He got a little nervous in the ring. But he’s pretty pleased he got here and this has made him hungry to really get after it in the off-season and make it back. He got a good taste of it.”

In Friday’s heptathlon events, Ziskovsky was eighth in the long jump (16-9.25), 19th in the javelin (79-5) and 11th in the 800 meters (2:24.42). Bentz was 20th in the long jump (14-7.25), eighth in the javelin (107-7) and 13th in the 800 meters in a personal best 2:28.99. There were 20 qualifiers competing.

Bentz’s point total was 176 points shy of the 4,419 points she used to win the Iowa Conference heptathlon May 1-2 in Pella while Ziskovsky was 145 off her previous best.

“It was a great experience for both of them,” Dunham said. “They really competed hard. They just have to continue working hard to get to that next level and I think they know that.

“I told them afterwards that there are a lot of athletes who wish they were here. I think this made them hungry to come back and compete for an all-America spot.”

Boeke joins Miller back in action again Saturday. Miller competes in the high jump at 10:30 a.m. (Iowa time). He’s ranked 18th out of 18 qualifiers. Boeke competes in the women’s shot put at 1:30 p.m. She’s ranked 13th out of 18 qualifiers.

“I think Rachel’s got a lot of the pressure off of her after today,” Dunham said. “She’ll have to throw well to get into the finals but I think she will.”