PELLA — Despite a late charge, courtesy of an onslaught of points in mid-distance and distance races, the Central College men's track and field team came up just short of a team title at the 2018 Iowa Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Central (131) finished seven points behind the University of Dubuque (138).

"I'm so proud of the culture of our team at the conference championships," coach Joe Dunham said. "Coaches always tell me how it's unbelievable how we come ready to compete every year. Most people projected us fourth or fifth and we got second. Our team and coaching staff create a winning environment."

In the mile, seniors Mark Fairley (Dubuque) and Jon Specht (Dubuque Hempstead) showed off a strong finishing kick. Fairley won in 4 minutes, 21.4 seconds and Specht was third in 4:23.79. Fairley also was fifth in the 3,000-meter run (8:54.38).

"It was an unbelievable last two laps in the mile," Dunham said. "I've never seen such a dramatic change in a race in such a short amount of time. By the time the race was over, it looked like they had it all under control."

Specht then led off the champion 4x800-meter relay team (7:59.50) featuring Taylor Donner (senior, Dubuque), Kyle Pape (junior, Dubuque, Wahlert Catholic HS) and Preston Kizer (sophomore, Dubuque). Pape (second place, 1:56.63), Kizer (third place, 1:56.03) and Specht (fifth place, 1:57.48) all earned points in the 800-meter run as well.

"Any time you're a conference champion it's an unbelievable thing," Dunham said. "For the rest of their lives they will also remember that race."

Will Daniels (sophomore, Geneseo, Ill.) cleared the high jump field by four inches after his successful leap of 6-9.5 gave him the title. He also finished the 60-meter dash finals in third place with a career-best 7.03 seconds. Daniels, who currently has the best heptathlon score in the country, also scored in the long jump and pole vault Friday.

"It's disappointing he didn't get the MVP because he's more than deserving of the award," Dunham said. "He's got a busy couple of weeks coming up with nationals on March 9-10

In the heptathlon, Ryan Kruse (senior, St. Clair, Minn.) held on to his day one lead to win with 4,811 points. An all-time effort of 14-1.25 in the pole vault went a long way to taking the crown. Classmate Reese Iversen (senior, Grimes, Dallas Center-Grimes HS) was fourth with 4,343 points and also had a personal record-breaking pole vault (12-1.5)

Kruse's seventh-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles (8.62 seconds) also gave Central two points.

A fourth-place finish in the 4x400-meter relay team of Mitchell Yaw (junior, Orange City, MOC-Floyd Valley HS), Hunter Howe (senior, La Plata, Mo.), Caleb Jennings (junior, Spirit Lake) and Cory Suedmeier (sophomore, Ankeny, Centennial HS) ended the day in a time of 3:30.08

Weight thrower Michael Firkins (senior, Centerville) reached 54-5.5 and placed eighth. Yaw also grabbed a point with an eighth-place effort in the 400-meter run (51.64 seconds).

After running at unspecified last chance meets within the region next weekend, the Dutch will hope to have qualified some athletes for the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships on March 9-10 in Birmingham, Alabama.