Wayne State College track and field teams hosted the WSC NCAA Showdown on Saturday, January 24, where WSC celebrated its senior track and field athletes.
The WSC NCAA Showdown was hosted in the Wildcat Dome. There were seven teams that competed at the Showdown, including Augustana, Black Hills State, Chadron State, Nebraska-Kearney, Northwest Missouri, Sioux Falls, and Southwest Minnesota State.
The atmosphere was filled with energy as the Wildcat seniors were being celebrated and dome records were being broken. Each WSC track and field senior received a framed jersey featuring an action photo of the athlete for whom it was intended.
The women’s team had two 60-meter placers, both freshmen. JoLie Farr placed fourth with a time of 7.95 seconds, and Carly Busch placed sixth with a time of 8.06 seconds. Neither of the women hit a personal record in the 60-meter sprint, but both showed major potential for the years to come.
Although Busch did not set a personal best in the 60-meter sprint, she did in the 200-meter run and placed third with a time of 26.16 seconds. Sophomore Alyssa Folds followed behind, placing sixth with a time of 26.66 seconds.
The Wildcats didn’t have any women who competed in the 400-meter run, but had two women who competed in the 600-meter run. Sophomore Zoey Holmes placed second with a time of 1:39.30, and Kaitlyn Bloomenrader placed third with a time of 1:41.81.
Although the Showdown was long and slow, freshman Kyla Krusemark and sophomore Meghan Cunningham had no problem speeding it up with the 800-meter run, where both athletes set a new personal record. Krusemark placed fourth with a personal best of 2:19.96, and Cunningham placed eighth with a time of 2:23.18.
WSC had three finalists in the 60-meter hurdles. Sophomore Reagan Murphy came first with a time of 9.05 seconds, followed by freshman Breylee Botts in second place with her personal record of 9.10 seconds, and coming in seventh place, sophomore Jayrn Warecjka with a personal best of 9.62 seconds.
The Last women’s track event was the 4×400 Relay, where WSC had two relay teams that competed. The team that came in first place seems all too familiar: Murphy, Holmes, Bloomenrader, and Busch with their personal record of 3:57.64. The other women’s 4×400 relay team consisted of Kaylea Bruxvoort, Krusemark, Marissa Pabst, and Peyton Owens, coming in fourth with their personal best of 4:13.03.
The women’s field events were just as productive, with two Wildcat athletes placing in the top three for shot put. Sophomore Jalecia Williams threw a personal record of 44-1 ½ to place second, and senior Olivia Schwarzrock got third with a throw of 42-8 ¼.
Women’s high jump had three athletes in the top eight. Senior Anna Coffee got second place and had a season record of 5-3 ¾, while junior Jerika Bakenhus placed third and had a personal best of 5-3 ¾. In eighth place, freshman Ella Van Dyke jumped 4-11 ¾.
Women’s long jump was a very competitive event on Saturday, with eight athletes hitting a personal record, with two of those athletes being from WSC. Junior Kailee Kellum hit a PR of 18-1 ½ to put her in second place, as her teammate, freshman Ava Leinen, placed third with a personal best of 17-9 ½.
Triple jumpers, junior Kailee Kellum and senior Lindsey Kneifl, were just a hop, skip, and a jump away from a season record and managed to pull it off. Kneifl placed second with a season record of 36-5 ½, and Kellum placed fifth with a season record of 34-3.
People were swarming around the throwing area as two Wildcat weight throwers threw their personal records, and three ended up on the leader board. Schwarzrock got first by throwing a personal best of 58-2 ½, showing off her skills on senior night. Taylor Arp is a sophomore at WSC who also threw her best of 52-7 ½, giving her fourth at the Showdown. Although Williams did not set a personal record in weight throwing, she still received seventh place with a throw of 51-3.
“Being able to have the best throw of my career so far was really gratifying, my teammates and I work so hard all year, and to see those efforts pay off with a personal best makes it all worth it,” Schwarzrock said. “It always feels good to get a win for my team, but being able to do it on such an important night for my classmates and I was extra special.”
Throwing it over to the men’s track team, with tough competition, there were no WSC placers in the 60-meter sprint or the 200-meter sprint.
The men’s track team redeemed itself in the 400-meter sprint with two athletes placing in the top eight. Osman Saeed, a junior at WSC, had a personal record of 48.88 seconds to
take third place. Senior Alex Leuenberger fought hard, placing eighth with his personal best of 49.74 seconds.
WSC only had one athlete in the 600-meter run. It was senior Mitchell Rudie who set a season record and got first with a time of 1:25.36.
The WSC 1000-meter athletes had the odds in their favor, as there were five 1000 racers, four of whom were Wildcat athletes. Freshman Matt Richardson took first place with a personal record of 2:37.95, freshman Drew Martin took second with a personal best of 2:39.87, sophomore Gannon Walsh took third with a time of 2:44.04, and lastly sophomore Simeon Weers took fourth with a personal record of 2:59.04.
The men’s track team also had two 4×400 relay teams, both of which placed in the top eight. The relay team of Leuenberger, Saeed, Jacob Jefferson, and Diego Perez placed with a PR of 3:19.45. The team of Rudie, Austin Madsen, Joe Dewald, and Keaton Bowker placed seventh with a personal record of 3:31.06.
Moving on to the men’s field events, three WSC athletes placed in the top eight in high jump including junior Cain Brown, who currently holds the venue record, which placed second with a jump of 6-8 ¼. Elliott Nottlemann, a junior at WSC, got a season record, getting him fifth place with a jump of 6-4 ¼ and Bryce Faimon who got his personal best that tied him up with an SMSU athlete for sixth place with a jump of 6-4 ¼.
Pole vaulter Devon Schultz, a junior at WSC, who held the Dome Record for pole vault coming into the meet, got second with a vault of 15-3. Schultz’s record was broken by Chase Maher, a pole vaulter from Black Hills State, giving Schultz a higher bar to shoot for.
“Chase Maher is an incredible vaulter who had an amazing day on Saturday, and watching him break the dome record was exciting,” Schultz said. “As a college athlete, having good competition is what we all hope for. Records are meant to be broken; that is what makes track and field so exciting.”
For the long jump, WSC had two athletes place, with one being freshman Bryce Faimon, who placed third with a personal record of 22-7, and the second being Ty Dingman, a junior at WSC who placed seventh with a season record of 21-4 ¼.
The Wildcats only had one triple jumper, freshman Bryce Larson, who placed fifth with a jump of 43-11 ¾.
There were four weight throwers who placed in the top eight on Saturday, with two of the four getting a personal record. Samuel Zazueta, a sophomore at WSC, placed second with 59 feet, followed by his teammate J’Dyn Bullion, a sophomore with 58-1 ¾. Junior Jaxson Ninete followed right behind Bullion with third place and a throw of 56-10 ¾. Lastly, in sixth place, junior Jake Peitz threw 53-6 ¼.
WSC track and field will be back in action Jan. 30 and Jan. 31 at Minnesota State University.
