ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS— Central College track and field athletes won both the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon titles at the John Green Combined Events Friday.
Additionally, the Dutch sent another batch of athletes to the Augustana Meet of Champions in Rock Island, Illinois. Seven Dutch athletes finished in the top 10 and two relays earned points there.
JOHN GREEN COMBINED EVENTS
In her first heptathlon,
Olivia Bohlen (freshman, Belle Plaine) topped the field of 14 with 4,346 points. She was three points behind the leader heading into the final event.
"Olivia had a great meet all around," associate head coach
Jim Fuller said. "She had good ,solid marks yesterday and came out today and did the same. She knew where the girl she had to beat in the 800 was and she beat her by well over 100 meters."
Central took the top-three spots in the men's heptathlon, starting with
Brody Klein's (junior, Rainier, Wash.) winning total of 6,285 points.
Reid Pakkebier (junior, Cedar Rapids, Kennedy HS) was second with 6,008 points and
Gavin Smith (freshman, Audubon) was third with 5,839 points.
"Brody fell in the hurdles and it cost him some points," Fuller said. "He had a lot of solid events and it was a good score but it's not what he was hoping for. Gavin had one of the best opening scores by a freshman I've had in 11 years."
The other two Dutch entries both had events Saturday with no marks, costing them significant chunks of points.
Lucas Heitz (senior, Adel, ADM HS) was fifth with 5,701 points and
Grant Miller (freshman, Norwalk) was seventh with 5,351 points.
"It's the middle of the season for everybody else but this is our first decathlon," Fuller said. "We've got a lot of important things to work on still.
"Between all six individual's events and their total scores, we had 63 chances to score and we had 21 PRs. There were a few miscues in there but there was a lot of good in it the last two days."
AUGUSTANA MEET OF CHAMPIONS
With three events yet to be completed Saturday, the Dutch are 11th in the women's team standings with 28 points and the men are 17th with 11 points at the Augustana Meet of Champions.
"I think we competed well," Sturman said. "It was a large meet and we were battling the weather, too."
The women's 4x400-meter relay team of
Abbi Roerdink (junior, Tiffin, Ohio, Hopewell-Loudon HS),
Abby Gruver (junior, Sully, Lynnville-Sully HS),
Willa Sickelka (freshman, Primghar, South O'Brien HS) and
Lauren Brown (junior, Underwood) was the runner-up in 4:07.06.
Mary Gustason (freshman, Marion), Roerdink, Sickelka and
Emily McMartin (freshman, Pella) were sixth in the 4x100-meter relay in 49.33 seconds.
Addison Parrott (sophomore, Danville) was fourth in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:34.88 and
Leah Bontrager (freshman, Wellman, Hillcrest Academy) was sixth in 12:10.16
"Addison had a good day," Sturman said. "Coach Dunham is excited about what she accomplished and the impact she can have for us later in the season."
Other top-10 finishers for the women were Brown taking sixth in the 400-meter dash in 1:00.87,
Hadyn Miller (junior, Iowa Falls, Iowa Falls-Alden HS) placing ninth in the 800-meter run in 2:23.15 and
Allison Van Gorp (sophomore, Pella, Pella Christian HS) was ninth in the discus throw in 123-4.
On the men's side,
Randy Jimenez (sophomore, Indianola, Southeast Warren HS) had a fourth-place appearance in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, crossing the line in 9:45.34.
Connor Miklos (junior, Lockport, Ill., Providence Catholic HS) was eighth in the 110-meter hurdles in 15.46 seconds and
Theo Baldus (fifth year, St. Ansgar) was eighth in the discus throw in 150-9.
"It was good to get some competition under our belt which is something we need to do," Sturman said.
Central will compete at the Drake Relays in Des Moines and the Kip Janvrin Open in Indianola next weekend.
