PELLA — Winning 13 of the 14 running events, the Central College track and field team hosted the Dutch Holiday Preview Saturday afternoon.

This year's Dutch Holiday Preview was just a dual with Truman State University, a Division II school from Missouri.  No team scores were kept as Central won 19 of the 28 combined events.

"Today's meet is a way to see where we're at," coach Brandon Sturman said. "We've been training since September so it doesn't matter how many teams they are, we're going to compete regardless. We were able to get a lot of work done and I was happy with how we competed overall."

Three Central freshmen were event winners Saturday. Lizzy Van Utrecht (Ottumwa, Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont HS) won the women's 300 meters (43.50 seconds), Gabe Feldmann (Mount Pleasant) won the men's 600 meters (1 minute, 27.72 seconds) and Ronan Jimenez (Liberty Center, Southeast Warren HS) won the men's 1,000 meters (2:49.33).

"I'm excited about the freshmen," Sturman said. "They put up some marks to show that we are taking a step forward."

Central swept the men's jumping events. Kale Purcell (junior, Holton, Kan.) was the triple jump winner (46 feet, 6 inches), Gunner Meyer (sophomore, Fairbank, Wapsie Valley HS) was the high jump winner (6-6.75) and Reid Pakkebier (junior, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) won the long jump (21-2).

"Kale jumped amazing," Sturman said. "He's now fourth on the program's top-10 list. He jumped 14.16 meters and he had never jumped 14 meters before."
           
Mary Gustason (sophomore, Marion, Linn-Mar HS) swept the women's short sprints, winning the 60-meter dash (8.06) and 200-meter dash (27.17) while Jackson Moats (senior, Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley HS) swept the men's races in 7.16 seconds and 23.83 seconds, respectively.

Other winners for Central include Noah Erickson (senior, Mount Vernon) in the men's 300 meters (36.49 seconds), Riley Packer (sophomore, Erie, Ill.) in the women's 600 meters (1:42.65), Alyssa Mayhew (senior, North Aurora, Ill., West Aurora HS) in the women's 1,000 meters (3:10.43), Ben DeValk (junior, Solon) in the men's 3,000 meters (8:52.65), Addison Parrott (junior, Danville) in the women's 3,000 meters (10:20.28) and Amber Vroman (junior, Seneca, Ill.) in the women's pole vault (9-2.25).
           
Jorgenson takes down 800-meter run record – A stellar fall semester continued for Noah Jorgenson (senior, Sidney), who took down one of the program's oldest records in the men's 800 meters Saturday at the Iowa State Holiday Invitational.
           
Jorgenson finished sixth in 1:51.25 and bested the previously record set in 1999.
           
"Noah came off a good cross country season and ran well last week," Sturman said. "He felt so good that he wanted to try the 800 this week and broke another school record.
           
Women's sprinters Emily McMartin (sophomore, Pella) and Abbi Roerdink (senior, Tiffin, Ohio, Hopewell-Loudon HS) also ran at Iowa State. McMartin was 14 th in the 60-meter dash (8.01 seconds) and eighth in the 200-meter dash (25.96 seconds). Roerdink was sixth in the 300-meter dash (41.10) and eleventh in the 200 (26.43).
           
"It's an opportunity for them to race against some fast competition and see where they are at," Sturman said. "We did some good things, but I know we've still got more in the tank to work towards moving forward."

Central returns to action on Friday, January 12 at the Cardinal Opener hosted by North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.