WAVERLY — Placing in the top-eight in 11 different events was enough to push the Central College men's team to a third-place finish at the Wartburg Select meet on Saturday.
A total of 91 points placed Central third as a team, the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) won the team crown with 191 points.
A successful day in the 800 meters run saw three Dutch runners finish within the top-eight.
Mark Fairley (junior, Dubuque) led the way by taking second in 1 minute, 58.94 seconds.
Jon Specht (junior, Dubuque, Hempstead HS) was fifth in 1:58.94 and
Kyle Pape (sophomore, Dubuque, Wahlert Catholic HS) came in seventh at 1:59.57.
Specht also ran the mile in 4:25.46 and placed fourth.
"He had probably the best meet of his career," coach
Joe Dunham said. ". It's been really fun to see him at where we've always known he could be."
Pape and Fairley were joined by
Cory Suedmeier (freshman, Ankeny, Centennial HS) and
Taylor Donner (junior, Dubuque) to earn a second-place finish in the distance medley relay (10:21.38)
Another distance specialist,
Isaac Steffensmeier (senior, Fort Madison), finished just behind Specht in the mile (5th – 4:27.99) and also placed fourth in the 3,000 meters (8:56.04)
In the prelims of the 60-meter hurdles,
Reese Iversen (junior, Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) qualified second in 8.78 seconds. In the finals he took fourth in 8.86 seconds.
"He hit a hurdle and didn't run his best race in the final." Dunham said. "He's in a great position and I think he's progressing nicely."
In the high jump,
Logan Mulford (senior, Mt. Pleasant) won the high jump by clearing six feet, nine inches. Iversen finished fifth at 6-1.
With a toss of 51-9,
Michael Firkins (junior, Centerville) was fifth in the weight throw. In the shot put,
Nathan Fitzgerald (sophomore, Elkader, Central Elkader HS) uncorked a career-best mark of 48-10 to take fourth.
"Nathan's very confident," Dunham said. "He's starting to really get back into the rhythm he had last year.
Another strong performance in the heptathlon this weekend by
Will Daniels (Geneseo, Ill.) saw the freshmen lead the field after day one and finish in second with 4,466 points, the 17th best total in Division III.
???????The Dutch will be represented at two different meets next weekend. A contingent will head back to Platteville, Wisconsin for the Platteville Invitational while the rest of the squad while be in Grinnell for the Darren Young Classic.
