Both Tabor College track and field teams earned fourth-place team finishes at the KCAC Championships Thursday and Friday.
The top eight finishers in each event earned points, while the top three earned All-KCAC honors. Those placing fourth through sixth earned honorable mention honors.
“I was very pleased with our fourth-place finishes for both men’s and women’s teams,” coach Dave Kroeker said. “We had many outstanding performances but I think the highlight of the meet was the men’s third-place finish in the 4×800 relay. All of the athletes ran faster than they had all year and several had monster PRs.”
Austin Kurtz highlighted the men’s performances by placing second in the javelin with an NAIA “B” qualifying distance of 185 feet even.
Cole Younger scored points in three events, placing second in the 200 (21.87 seconds), fourth in the 100 (10.79) and seventh in the long jump (21-41⁄4).
Four Bluejays scored points in the shot put: Robert Phillips was second (47-111⁄4), Jonathan Gibson third (47-7), Daniel Quiring fifth (45-111⁄4) and Johnny Loera seventh (45-41⁄4).
Phillips placed fifth in the discus (127-1), while Loera was eighth in that event (124-0).
In the hammer, Quiring finished third (146-9) and Loera, fifth (141-11).
All three relays scored points.
Tyler Parrish, Josh Richert, Thomas Bacon and Si Luc were third in the 4×800 (7:58.61); Zac Krehbiel, Utopia LaStrap, Avery Franz and Younger were fourth in the 4×100 (42.52); and Franz, Oree Johnson, Josh Richert and Parrish were seventh in the 4×400 (3:30.88).
Franz was fifth in the triple jump (44-51⁄4) and eighth in the long jump (20-103⁄4); Krehbiel finished sixth in the 100 (10.93) and eighth in the 200 (22.43); and Parrish was eighth in the 1,500 (4:13.84).
As a team, Tabor scored 81 points to finish behind Friends (179), McPherson (164) and Saint Mary (147) in the 12-team field.
Alyssa Windle paved the way for the women by scoring 24 points. She won the discus (118-0), placed second in the shot put (40-91⁄2) and finished third in the hammer (136-7).
Aailiya Carter was second in the 200 (25.07) and fourth in the 100 (12.28).
Jamiah Evans finished third in the discus (111-5) and seventh in both the shot put (36-0) and the hammer (105-1).
Amy Horner placed fourth in the triple jump (36-51⁄2) and eighth in the 100 hurdles (16.95).
Julie Loewen was sixth in the 5,000 (20:19.09) and the 3,000 steeplechase (12:55.86), while Taylor Vogt was sixth in the hammer (107-1).
Ashton Kroeker finished sixth in the high jump (4-11) and eighth in the triple jump (34-5), while Sarah Hagen placed seventh in the 400 (1:02.03).
Tessa Downs was eighth in the hammer (81-10).
All three relays scored points: Horner, Ashton Kroeker, Hagen and Carter placed third in the 4×100 (49.80); Carter, Keeley Kroeker, Horner and Hagen were third in the 4×400 (4:07.73); and Keeley Kroeker, Hagen, Kaylee Schmidt and Loewen were eighth in the 4×800 (10:55.41).
As a team, Tabor scored 82 points to finish behind Friends (297), Southwestern (9) and Saint Mary (98) in the 12-team field.
Coming—Tabor will seek to gain more national qualifiers at the Sam Williams Qualifier at Emporia State Saturday. The NAIA National Championships will be held May 26-28 in Gulf Shores, Ala.
