GRINNELL — Competing amongst a talented field, the Central College men's track and field team finished sixth of 12 teams at the Darren Young Classic hosted by Grinnell College Saturday.
The Dutch compiled 46 points while Nebraska Wesleyan University won the team championship with 139 points.
"It was a pretty good day," coach
Brandon Sturman said. "It was a big meet with most of our conference and other good programs like Augustana. For our athletes to go out there and compete well was exciting. It's starting to come together."
After a less-than-stellar preliminary run,
Will Daniels (junior, Geneseo, Ill.) won the 60-meter hurdle with a time of 8.37 seconds. Daniels is now No. 6 all-time at Central.
"He's been a little under the weather," Sturman said. "His prelims run wasn't the prettiest but he took advantage of his second chance in the finals."
Three Central runners placed in the top-eight of the mile, including champion
Kyle Pape (senior, Dubuque, Wahlert Catholic HS) in a time of 4:23.25. Pape ran an 800-meter ace Friday night in St. Paul, Minnesota before making the trip to Grinnell.
"For him to do a double on a short turnaround with travel is really exciting to see," Sturman said. "When it comes to conference, he'll make a huge impact for us doing a similar double."
Jeremy Fopma (freshman, Marion) and
Will DeHaan (freshman, DeWitt, Central DeWitt HS) also ran Friday night in Minnesota but finished fourth (4:28.15) and sixth (4:31.69) in the mile.
Jordan Toomey (senior, Runnells, Southeast Polk HS) took third in the 5,000-meter run (15:35.42) and
Daniel Sunvold (junior, Monroe, Southeast Polk HS) placed eighth (15:47.95).
Pape and Toomey ran the second and third legs of Central's fourth-place distance medley relay team.
Eli Miller (junior, Van Horne, Benton HS) led off and
Patrick Gorkow (freshman, Van Horne, Benton HS) anchored the time of 11:13.27
The final scorer for Central on Saturday was
Cory Suedmeier (junior, Ankeny, Centennial HS), who was fourth in the 200-meter run (23.07 seconds)
The Dutch will be back in Waverly next Saturday for the Wartburg Invitational.
