he Wayne State men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Seward, Nebraska on Feb. 8 and 9 to compete in the Concordia Invitational. The meet attracted 14 teams from the NCAA Division and NAIA levels.

On the women’s side, senior Joan Jelimo and freshman Mikayla Marvin lead the women’s effort to help pace WSC. Jelimo won the 600-meter dash with a time of 1:38:81. Marvin set another school record in the pole vault, breaking her own personal and school record again, clearing 11’ 2 1/2” to place eighth overall.

“Our coaches have been pushing us since January and now it the time to start peaking,” freshmen Marin Jetensky. “Our workouts are more race simulation. Most of the schools at this meet were NAIA schools so we all knew that it would be a great weekend to place and PR.”

The WSC 4×400 meter relay team (Jordyn Pester, Jetensky, Jelimo and Molli Vasa) captured a second place finish with a time of 4:02.32.

WSC also had two more individual second place finishers. Pester placed second in the 400-meter dash with a time of 57.46 seconds while sophomore Jadin Wagner recorded a second place finish in the shot put with a throw of 47’ 6 1/2”. Freshmen Andrea Torres recorded a third place finish in the 3,000 meter run with a time of 19:52.22.

“Having great teammates to help push me on race day really helps me,” Jetensky said. “Molli and Joan are great teammates that I am thankful for who are both extremely food athletes. I felt like this meet was different because there weren’t any teams from the NSIC at the meet and for it being so close to conference.”

On the men’s side, junior Dylan Kessler posted the top finish for WSC with a second place finish in the 5,000 meter run with a time of 15:54.61. Senior Alvyns Alcenord recorded a fifth place finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.07 seconds and also finished fifth in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.78 seconds.

“We are preparing for every meet as if they are any other meet,” sophomore Preston Davis said. “We have some hard days and some easy days throughout the week. Our weekly training schedule does not change that much from week to week.”

Senior Robert Sullivan made the 60-meter hurdles finals with a fourth place finish, with a time of 8.49 seconds.

The 600-meter dash featured three Wildcat finishers. Bryce Holcomb took fourth place with a time of 1:24.86, Nathan Pearson finished fifth with a time of 1:25.94, and Jacob Kemper captured the sixth place finish with a team of 1:26.62.

The Wayne State men’s 4×400 meter relay team (Jacob Ladage, Holcomb, Pearson and Davis) recorded a fourth place finish with a time of 3:29.04.

“It is crunch time. This is where we want to see a peak in our performance this season,” Davis said.

Both the men’s and women’s track and field teams will compete Friday, Feb. 15 in South Dakota, at the South Dakota State Tune-Up Invite.