WAVERLY — In the final meet before the American Rivers Conference Championships, the Central College men's indoor track and field team won three events at the Wartburg Indoor Invitational on Saturday.
The Dutch garnered a third-place finish with 67 points. Wartburg College won with 242 points.
"This week was all about getting times or fine-tuning events in order to get a better seed mark for next weekend," coach
Brandon Sturman said. "We didn't travel the entire team and some people didn't do as many events."
Senior thrower
Nathan Fitzgerald (Elkader, Central HS) scored 18 points on his own with a victory in the shot put (49 feet, 0.25 inches) and a runner-up in the weight throw (47-2.25).
"We got a new implement for the weight throw this week and took advantage of the better technology," Sturman said.
The 4x200-meter relay squad of
Cory Suedmeier (junior, Ankeny, Centennial HS),
Mitchell Yaw (senior, Orange City, MOC-Floyd Valley HS),
Danny Devenuto (freshman, Plainfield, Ill., North HS) and
Carter Tryon (freshman, Winterset) crossed the line first in 1 minute, 32.13 seconds. Yaw, Tryon,
Alec Stahl (freshman, Steamboat Rock, AGWSR HS) and Suedmeier were third in the 4x400-meter relay in 3:24.63.
"I think we'll go even faster when we practice handoffs more," Sturman said. "That was a good PR in the 4x400 as well."
Suedmeier was also sixth in the 60-meter dash in 7.24 seconds.
Four Dutch placed in the 3,000-meter run, led by
Jeremy Fopma's (freshman, Marion) winning effort of 8:54.93.
Jordan Toomey (senior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS) was third (9:02.76),
Patrick Gorkow (freshman, Van Horne, Benton HS) was sixth (9:09.61) and
Sunvold (junior, Monroe, Southeast Polk HS) was eighth (9:14.21)
"Fopma gave it a hard-fought battle," Sturman said. "He challenged himself by going out hard and was able to hang on for the win."
Also placing for Central were
Kyle Pape (senior, Dubuque, Wahlert Catholic HS) and
Will DeHaan (freshman, Dewitt, Central HS) in the 800-meter run. Pape was third in 1:55.84 and DeHaan was sixth in 1:58.36.
Cameron Coles (freshman, Farley, Western Dubuque HS) was eighth in the 5,000-meter run (17:41.57)
Sturman was also complimentary of some non-scoring members of the Dutch squad.
"There were a lot of athletes who aren't front runners who made big strides," Sturman said. "They might not compete next week, but they took advantage of the extra opportunity to compete."
Next weekend, Central returns to Waverly for the American Rivers Conference Indoor Championships. The two-day meet will start on Friday and continue on Saturday.
"We'll have to take what we got from today and use it to gear up for next week," Sturman said. "We'll hopefully be able to use the momentum for next week."
