Pride track and field close out two-meet week heading into Easter Break
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. - A double meet week for the Clarke University track and field team wrapped up on Friday at the Viking Olympics in Rock Island, Ill. after the Pride also competed in town in Dubuque at the Loras Easter Mid-Week on Tuesday with CU being able to qualify on individual to the NAIA National Championship meet on Friday.
Full Viking Oympics Results: https://results.wayzatatiming.com/meets/65736/teams/1535741
Full Loras Easter Mid-Week Results: https://iptt.anet.live/meets/65581/teams/1529762
That individual was senior Isabelle Matthews, who qualified in the women's javelin with a B Standard qualifying throw of 41.03 meters to also win the event at Augstana as she sits as the 15th best javelin throw so far of the NAIA season and coming up just 0.51 meters shy of her own school record after also throwing to a 40.62 mark on Tuesday.
Matthews led a group of women that all had a solid week of competition that included Gracee Roig finishing top-three in an event three times, starting with a runner-up at Loras in the long jump at a 5.20-meter best jump before coming up just shy of that mark on Friday with a 5.05 for third place then winning the triple jump at Augustana at an 11.42-meter jump to come just 0.30 meters shy of an NAIA B Standard mark.
Joining Roig and Matthews with podium finishes for the CU women were Grace Squires, who produced a third place 3.27-meter pole vault finish on Tuesday, Tiana Culmer, who ran a 12.55 100-meter dash for third place as well as a fourth place 200-meter time of 26.52, Hannah Quang, who finished third at a 16.07 time for the 100-meter hurdles, and Reese Ryan, who finished in third place with a 1.48-meter high jump clearance.
With a lot of the women's top finishes on Friday coming from various field events, the opposite seemed to be true for the Pride men, who ran to quality finishes on the track, especially in sprints led by a pair of top-three placements for Jake Etherington, who had a second place finish in the 200-meter dash with a 21.90-second time and also posting a third place 10.77 100-meter dash time.
In both of those races, Etherington finished just ahead of Joshua Musonda, who ran to matching fifth place finishes in both at a 10.80 time in the 100 and a 22.09 time in the 200 with Eric Chatham posting a fourth place 16:58.92 5000 meters and Nick Zaprianov finishing in fifth in the 400-meter hurdles at 57.50 and eighth in the 110-meter hurdles at a 16.66-second time as prep for his decathlon attempts later on in the season.
A pair of Clarke men found success in field events with Ja'kobe Kizer posting a 14.29-meter best mark in the triple jump for second place and Keifer Landes was able to get back to action for the pole vault twice this week after suffering an injury late during the indoor season for the freshman to produce a 4.35-meter best vault on Tuesday and improving to 4.55 meters on Friday in his trek to qualify for outdoor nationals similarly to his qualification during the indoor season.
Pride track and field will now head into the busier part of their outdoor season after Easter break to compete twice again next week, with the team scheduled to head to Pella, Iowa and Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Apr. 9-11 for both the Dutch Spring Multi and Mustang Distance Carnival and Open.