Bulldog Track Teams Finish Jim Dutcher Invite Strong
by Garrett Suchanek
The Concordia men’s and women’s track teams competed in the Jim Dutcher Invitational in Crete on Friday and Saturday, and both the men’s and women’s teams produced event winners in both the track and field events.
Friday’s events included men’s decathlon, women’s heptathlon, throwing events and relays. On the men’s side, junior Lucas Wiechman led the way in the decathlon by finishing in third place with 6,400 points. In field events, the men claimed second, fourth and fifth in the hammer throw and second place in the javelin throw.
On the women’s side, the throwers dominated the hammer throw by taking second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh place. The women also dominated the javelin throw by claiming first, third, fourth and fifth place. Senior Liz King was the javelin champion with a throw of 150’ 7”.
Saturday concluded the Jim Dutcher Invite, and both teams had top-three finishers in their respective events. The men claimed first-place medalist honors in the following events: discus throw, 800-meter run and 400-meter hurdles. In discus, senior Joshua Slechta won with a throw of 178’ 5”, and teammate Zach Lurz earned second place with a throw of 175’ 11”. Junior CJ Muller was the 800-meter champion by clocking in with a time of 1:56.75. Senior Trevor Bresson won the 400-meter hurdle race with a time of 55.61 seconds.
The women’s team had four event winners. Freshman McKenzie Gravo won the pole vault with a jump of 12 feet even. Senior Stephanie Coley won the discus throw by almost five feet with a hurl of 160’ 3”. Junior Kali Robb ousted teammates freshman Samantha Liermann and Coley in the shot put with a throw of 46’ 2”. Liermann claimed second with a throw of 45” 9 1/4” while Coley took third with a throw of 44’ 7 1/2”. Lastly, senior Kim Wood continued to impress and won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:17.49, over one second faster than the second place finisher.
Concordia’s track teams will be back in action on Wednesday, April 27 for the Nebraska Wesleyan Spring Open and April 28-30 for the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.
