CRETE, NEB. — Cracking the Central College women's outdoor track and field record boards, Mary Gray (senior, West Des Moines, Waukee HS) and Kiki Pingel (senior, Pella) are No. 6 and No. 8 all-time in the heptathlon after competing at the Jim Dutcher Memorial Classic this weekend.
           
Four Central men also took on the decathlon.
           
Gray compiled 4,625 points to finish third. Pingel racked up 4,528 to finish fourth. Lauren Tamayo of Hastings (Neb.) was the winner with 4,825 points.
           
"The women were really good," associate head coach Jim Fuller said. "Probably every other women on that top-10 list was an All-American."
           
In the long jump, Gray was third (17-10.75) while Pingel was second in the javelin throw (105-3). Pingel and Gray closed out the meet 1-2 in the 800-meter run in 2 minutes, 24.75 seconds and 2:26.47, respectively.
           
"Mary had a really good long jump and Kiki threw the javelin well," Fuller said. "They both ran a solid half-mile at the end. I'm sure they are in the hunt for the national meet. Normally, I would think those scores would put them in."
           
Lucas Heitz (sophomore, Adel, ADM HS) led the Dutch in the decathlon, finishing fourth (5,972 points). He was second in the 110-meter hurdles (15.556 seconds) but it was his pole vault (11-9.25) and javelin throw (153-7) that had Fuller's attention.
           
"I'm pretty excited about Lucas almost getting 6,000 in his first one," Fuller said. "His pole vault and his javelin throw were probably the highlights for him.
           
"He was a conference champion in the pentathlon indoors but there's a lot of difference between the decathlon and the heptathlon/pentathlon indoors."
           
Freshman Jaxon Thompson (Marion, Linn-Mar HS) was eighth with 5,403 points.
           
"He was a typical freshman," Fuller said. "He was up and down a little but. He's a little sore right now but I thought what he did was good and I'm glad he got through it."
           
Injuries prevented Brody Klein (freshman, Rainier, Wash.) and Nick Thompson (junior, Newhall, Benton HS) from finishing all five events Sunday.
           
"We are just being cautious with them," Fuller said. "We knew Brody wasn't going to throw the javelin throw before it started and Nick just tweaked something so we held him out."

Next weekend, Central will be represented at the Drake Relays in Des Moines and the Kip Janvrin Open in Indianola. The Drake Relays are Friday and Saturday for the College Division while the Kip Janvrin is Friday only.