The Wayne State College track and field teams traveled to Mankato, Minnesota on Saturday, Feb. 28 for the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Indoor Championships. The women’s team the placed 13th and the men’s track and field team placed ninth.
Marlon Brink, the head coach of the WSC track and field teams, was ready to get to work right off the bus. The team traveled to Mankato on Thursday, Feb. 26 and the first thing they did was go straight to the gym. WSC is familiar with the facility, competing in Mankato at the Mark Schuck Open four weeks prior, but with it being conferences, the team knew it was going to be a different atmosphere.
On the women’s side, junior jumper Lindsey Kneifl added the triple jump to her list of events this year when Kneifl started working with the jumps coach Travis Kamm. She only had competed in the triple jump for four weeks of the season, and this past weekend placed eighth and set a new school record in triple jump of 37’ 8”.
Just two other performers earned points for the Wildcat women. Junior thrower Olivia Schwarzrock placed seventh in the shot put with a throw of 43’ 7 ¼” and freshman Zoey Holmes took eighth in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:39.65.
For the men’s team, freshman Emanuel Badejo earned All-Conference honors and placed third in the 400-meter race with a time of 48.95 seconds. Badejo was the only WSC track and field athlete to make all conference in any event. Badejo was also part of the 4×400 team with Mitchell Hupp, Alex Leuenberger and Wyatt Nissen placed seventh.
“With being only a freshman, Emmanuel and the team was very excited that he got all conference,” Brink said.
Senior Quentin Dreyer earned an NSIC Elite 18 award for the second time in his career. This award goes out to the student with the best GPA going into the finals site for each of the NSIC’s 18 championships.
“That was a good fit for Quentin to go out with that award for his last indoor track and field meet,” Brink said.
Dreyer also earned two medals for the men, placing sixth in the 1,000-meter run with a 2:32.76 finish and seventh in the one-mile run, crossing the line at 4:16.90.
Senior thrower Dan Elge also earned points in two events, placing sixth in the weight throw and got seventh in shot put, right behind another WSC shot put thrower Daylin Mallory, who finished fifth.
Junior thrower Jake Peitz recorded a personal record during conference, placed 20th in the weight throw and 24th in the shot put. =Peitz and the throwing team were very excited for Peitz because of the confidence boost that will be going into the outdoor season.
“I was struggling at the beginning of the season,” Peitz said. “About two weeks ago I had a practice on a Sunday and started to figure things out. Don’t let your worst days have more power over you then you best days.”
Brink pushes how much his team can and will continue to improve heading into the outdoor season. The outdoor season begins with the annual Wildcat Classic at Memorial Stadium on the campus of WSC, which is set to begin Saturday, Mar. 28.