GRINNELL — Clearing the other eight teams by 71 points, the Central College women's track and field team won the Darren Young Classic team title Saturday.

The Dutch men's team also won a team title thanks to a late scoring correction. Central's second 4x200-meter relay team was not scored correctly after the first team was disqualified for interference. The extra six points for the third-place finish by the 'B' relay put Central into first place in the team standings. Yet, Central was missing some key distance runners on both teams as they were competing at Boston University's David Hemery Valentine Invitational this weekend.

"We had a lot more athletes than some of the other schools," coach Brandon Sturman said. "It's a good meet, especially when you're two weeks out from conference. We were able to gather a lot of confidence and excitement by winning a lot of events and scoring good points."

Women win three individual events, two relays --

Pole vaulter Amber Vroman (sophomore, Seneca, Ill.) added another four inches to her career-best, moving up to No. 2 in indoor program history with a clearance of 10 feet, 5.25 inches. Cali Coffman (senior, Leawood, Kan., Blue Valley HS) finished second (9-11.25).

"Amber is having a phenomenal year," Sturman said. "It's really exciting how much she has grown in that event since last year. She keeps making progress every week."

Peyton Steffen (freshman, Marion) won the 800-meter race in 2 minutes, 24.97 seconds and Leah Bontrager (freshman, Wellman, Hillcrest Academy) won the mile run in 5:21.51. Steffen was also second in the mile (5:25.56) and Bontrager was third in the 800 (2:30.57). Lindsey Davidson (junior, Northwood, Norhwood-Kensett HS) added a third-place finish in the 5,000-meter run (18:57.96).

"We've been excited about that freshmen class of women's distance runners," Sturman said. "They made a big impact in cross country and are starting to do that on the track now. Peyton especially enjoys the speed aspect of track and she'd doing good things."

Freshman Riley Packer (freshman, Erie, Ill.) was third in the 400-meter run (1:03.05) and Abbi Roerdink (junior, Tiffin, Ohio, Hopewell-Loudon HS) was third in the 200 meters (26.93). Roerdink also ran on the winning 4x200 and 4x400-meter relay squads. Mary Gustason (freshman, Marion, Linn-Mar HS), Willa Sickelka ((freshman, Primghar, South O'Brien HS) and Emily McMartin (freshman, Pella) also ran on the 4x200 team (1:46.33). Abby Gruver (junior, Sully, Lynnville-Sully HS), Lauren Brown (junior, Underwood) and Olivia Bohlen (freshman, Belle Plaine) were on the 4x400 team (4:10.33).

In the field events, Abby Marr (senior, Riceville) was second in the weight throw (49-11.75) and Abigail White (sophomore, Centerville) was third in the high jump (5-0.5)

Beatty bests high jump again --

Sam Beatty (senior, Mount Pleasant) remained undefeated on the season in the high jump while setting a new personal indoor record of 6-10.25 to top the field Saturday. His mark is No. 2 in the national indoor qualifying list and matches his career best outdoor mark from the 2022 conference meet.

"He's getting better at taking more attempts at higher heights," Sturman said. "Those attempts will definitely help at the national meet."

Jaxon Thompson (junior, Marion, Linn-Mar HS) was second in the high jump, clearing 6-2.

Reid Pakkebier (sophomore, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) gave Central another individual champion in a 60-meter hurdles race dominated Central. Pakkebier crossed first in 8.33 seconds and was trailed by runner-up Connor Miklos (junior, Lockport, Ill., Providence Catholic HS) in 8.57 seconds and third-place finisher Grant Miller (freshman, Norwalk) in 8.63 seconds.

In the 5,000-meter run, sophomore Randy Jimenez (sophomore, Indianola, Southeast Warren HS) has been making his way back after injuries and took third in 15:39.12

"It's only Randy's second week back competing," Sturman said ."He continues to make strides and show the dedication he's put in to come back."

Other third-place finishers for Central included Brody Klein (junior, Rainier, Wash.) in the pole vault (13-10.5) and Theo Baldus (fifth year, St. Ansgar) in the weight throw (49-6.5)

Central is headed back to Waverly next Saturday for the Liz Wuertz Invitational hosted by Wartburg College at 11 a.m.