PELLA — In its first action of 2025, the Central College men's track and field was dominant across a range of events Friday afternoon at the Dutch Athletics Classic.

There were no team scores in the field that also included Grinnell College, Quincy University (Ill.) and Faith Baptist Bible College.

"Having a smaller meet benefits us a lot," coach Brandon Sturman said. "It allows us to keep it light and calm and not stress out too much and not over think the times."

Kale Purcell (senior, Holton, Kan.) swept the horizontal jumps Friday, highlighted by a season-best 47 feet, 11.25 inches in the triple jump. He also won the long jump with a mark of 22-2.25

"It's always tough to do both in the same day, especially this early in the season," Sturman said. "We wanted to get it under our belt to see where we were at after break. It was exciting to get a personal best indoor triple jump, that will hopefully solidify him getting into nationals."

Connor Miklos (fifth year, Lockport, Ill., Providence Catholic HS) is back on campus this spring for his extra year of eligibility after his freshman season was interrupted by the CoVID-19 pandemic. He topped the field in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.31 seconds and was runner-up in the 60-meter dash in 7.11 seconds.

"We're excited he decided to come back and use that extra eligibility," Sturman said. "He's really going to add some depth to our sprints and hurdles crew. He showed he obviously put in the work this offseason."

Other individual champions for Central include Jrake Van Hemert (junior, Pella) in the 600 meters (1:25.36), Blake Creed (sophomore, Washington, Mid-Prairie HS) in the 800 meters (2:42.44), Jack Brown (sophomore, Norwalk) in the mile (4:26.49), Dylan Maurer (freshman, Liberty Hill, Texas) in the pole vault (13-7.25), Gunner Meyer (junior, Fairbank, Wapsie Valley HS) in the high jump (6-3.25) and Tommy Morlan (junior, Tiffin, Clear Creek-Amana HS) in the shot put (30-3.5)

Central travels to the Prairie Wolf Invitational hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan University next Friday in Lincoln.