PELLA — Ending Friday in style, the Central College 4x800-meter relay team picked up the program's third individual championship of the 2018 Iowa Conference outdoor track and field championships.
With 64 points, the Dutch are nine points in front of the No. 2 team the University of Dubuque, which has 55 points.
"We've set ourselves up well for tomorrow," coach
Joe Dunham said. "The intensity only increases on Saturday. It's going to be important we bring a lot of energy to compete."
The quartet of
Jon Specht (senior, Dubuque, Hempstead HS),
Taylor Donner (senior, Dubuque),
Preston Kizer (sophomore, Dubuque) and
Kyle Pape (junior, Dubuque, Wahlert Catholic HS) won the 4x800-meter relay in 7:45.44 to close out the second day of competition.
"Winning a conference title is a always a great thing," coach
Joe Dunham said. "Those guys really wanted to win that race."
Pape (1:56.11), Specht (1:56.36) and Kizer (1:56.93) also all qualified for the 800-meter run finals after their preliminary races.
The distance crew also gave the Dutch a title in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for the sixth year in a row.
Mark Fairley (senior, Dubuque) won his third consecutive crown in a time of 9:20.12.
Tanner Rathje (senior, Marion, Linn-Mar HS) and
Jordan Toomey (junior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS) were third (9:31.91) and fourth (9:33.30).
"The steeplechase went really well," Dunham said. "The race played into the way we were hoping it would after it got strung out a bit."
Not only did
Will Daniels (sophomore, Geneseo, Ill.) win the high jump (6-9.5), he also took fourth in the long jump (22-7.25
). Justin Wimbish (senior, Glendale, Ariz., Apollo HS) was sixth with a leap of 21-7.5
Central got an all-conference effort from
Nathan Fitzgerald (junior, Elkader, Central HS) in the shot put after he finished third (51-4.25)
Overachieving against their seed marks in the decathlon and hammer throw,
Caleb Jennings (junior, Spirit Lake) and
Michael Firkins (senior, Centerville) gave the Dutch critical points. Jennings improved upon his decathlon score by 600 points to finish fourth (5,316 points) and Firkins added nearly 20 feet to his hammer to finish fifth (174-1).
"Caleb did a great job," Dunham said. "He had one PR after another, He was at his best when we needed him to be.
"Michael came out of nowhere with that throw. He did a great job."
Wimbish has a pair of finals Saturday after qualifying fourth in the 200-meter dash (22.00 seconds) and eighth in the 100-meter dash (11.04 seconds). Daniels also qualified eighth in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.33 seconds.
"Justin was huge today," Dunham said. "He did some pretty incredible things and really stepped up as one of our team leaders. Will had great day as well."
Junior
Mitchell Yaw (Orange City, MOC-Floyd Valley HS) will run the 400-meter dash finals Saturday after qualifying eighth (49.56 seconds).
Action begins on Saturday for the men at 10 a.m. with the pole vault. Live video and audio will be available at athletics.central.edu.
