Tabor soars to second-place finishes at KCAC meet

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN
The Tabor College men and women each placed second at the KCAC Track and Field Championships held at Tabor College on Friday and Saturday.

“For the second year in a row, both teams finished in second place in the conference,” coach Dave Kroeker said. “That would be like the football team being 8-1.

“We feel we had a pretty good year,” he added. “The women really had to pull together because of the loss of senior all-conference performer Angela Jost because of an injury suffered at the Tabor Invitational.”

Individual championship performances were achieved by the following Bluejays: Heidi Schmidt, 1,500 meters with a season-best time of 5 minutes, 8.74 seconds, Matt Rorabaugh, high jump (6-feet, 7-inches); Caleb Stanton, 400 meters with his season-best time of 49.27; and Trent Voth with a provisional national qualifying time of 15.09 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles.

All conference performances (second or third place) were recorded by the following Bluejay women: Ashley Scherrer, 400-meter hurdles (second, 1:07.23), triple jump (second, 36-81/2), long jump (second, 17- 31/2) and high jump (third, 5-21/4); Shelby Miller, 400 meters (third, 1:01.39); Sarah Lyons, 100-meter hurdles (third, 15.87); the 4×100 team of Jennifer Palmgren, Lyons, Carissa Litton, and Scherrer (second, 51.59); the 4×400 team of Miller, Rebekah Lockhart, Aftan Lambert and Scherrer (second, 4:12.50); the 4×800 team of Schmidt, Amber Wiens, Lambert and Miller (second, 10:14.5 1).

Bluejay men turning in all-conference performances were: Stanton, 200 meters (third, 22.16); Jeff Anenson, 800 meters (third, 1:59.14); Matt Lynam, with a school record in the 10,000 meters (36:13.97); Brian Lightner, 400-meter hurdles (second, 55.73) and 110-meter hurdles with a provisional national qualifying time of 15.14 (second); the 4×100 team of Garrett Bryant, Stanton, Chris Baarts and Caleb Marsh (second, 43.87); the 4×400 team of Stanton, Rorabaugh, Anenson and Marsh (second, 4:24.82); Philip Aitken, 110-meter high hurdles (third, 15.61); and Marsh in the pole vault with a school-record-tying vault of 14-6 (second).

Honorable-mention performances (fourth through sixth) were turned in by these Bluejay women: Palmgren, fourth in the 100 (13.11) and fourth in pole vault (8-6); Schmidt, 800 (fifth, 2:31.87); Wiens, 1,500 (fourth, 5:20.07) and 3,000-meter steeplechase (sixth, 13:34.30); Jennie Throne, 400-meter hurdles (sixth, 1 :16.09); Miller, pole vault (7-0); Rachel Kostner, hammer (102-10); and Lyons, javelin (fifth, 111-7).

The following Tabor men delivered honorable-mention performances: Baarts, 100 (sixth, 11.07); the 4×800 team of Will Higerd, Kyle Larsen, Anenson and Ryan Haug (fifth); Anenson, pole vault (12-0); Lightner, long jump (sixth, 20-113/4); Cody Dick, hammer throw (fifth, 133-4); and Jacob Sattler, javelin (162-5).

“Every point counted for both teams to do as well as they did,” Kroeker said. “I am so proud of their effort.

“This meet capped off a great season for both the men’s and women’s teams,” he added. “We will miss the seniors, Angela Jost and Carissa Litton. They have really contributed to the growth of the women’s track and field program at Tabor College.

“Not only their contributions on the track but their example of hard work in their workouts and their Christian character made them a joy to coach.”

Coming-Six Tabor athletes potentially have qualified for the NAIA Outdoor National Meet in Louisville, Ky., May 26-28: Scherrer, triple jump (automatic); Rorabaugh, high jump (automatic); Voth and Lightner in the 110-meter high hurdles (provisional); and Stanton and Merle Johnson in the 100-meter dash (provisional).

“We will take a few other athletes to Emporia State next Saturday to a ‘last chance’ meet in order to try to also qualify them for the national outdoor meet,” Kroeker said.

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