Four Red Raider athletes were crowned GPAC champions this past weekend at the GPAC Indoor Track and Field Championships held in Lincoln, Neb. In addition, three Red Raiders set new conference records in their respective events. The women's team placed fourth overall with a scored of 71.8 points while the men's team placed seventh with a total of 37 points. The fourth place finish is the highest ever at the conference meet in Northwestern history. Doane College ran away with both team titles with 197 points for the women and 219.5 for the men.
Charity Miles set new GPAC Indoor and school records in both the 3000m and 5000m events and earned champion honors in both events. The freshman from Thedford, Neb. finished with a record time of 10:09.96 in the 3000m, nearly 15 seconds faster than the second place runner. She then won the 5000m with a record time of 17:41.24, 19 seconds faster than the next runner. Olivia Johnson and Laura Jacobson also earned GPAC champion honors in their respective events. Johnson set a new conference record in the 800m with a first place time of 2:16.48. She also finished second in the one mile with a time of 5:02.74, just .17 seconds behind Jen Kempers of Dordt. Jacobson took first in the 600m run with a new school record time of 1:35.80. She also earned a second place finish in the 1000m with a time of 2:58.55, less than a second in back of Kym Bennett from Doane. Dan Walhof earned the conference championship in the 5000m run with a school record time of 15:16. He also finished third in the 3000m, crossing the line in 8:43.98. Walhof was one of the top point scorers on the men's side while Miles, Johnson and Jacobson were some of the top point scorers for the women.
In total, 14 Red Raider athletes earned all-conference honors by placing in the top eight in their respective event as well as eight new school records were established. In addition to those mentioned above, Stephanie Powell and Sara Hess placed eighth in the 1000m and 3000m runs, respectively. Powell finished with a time of 3:07.17 in the 1000m while Hess crossed the line in 10:38.97 in the 3000m, meeting the NAIA qualifying standard. Ingrid Carlson placed eighth in the 5000m with a time of 19:29.4. Emily DeWeerd placed seventh in the 60m hurdles with a school record time of 9.53. In field events, Kaitlin Beaver and Kara Den Herder earned all-conference honors. Beaver finished tied for second in the high jump with a leap of 5-03. Den Herder placed eighth in the shot put with a toss of 37-03.75.
For the men, Kevin Krueger and Ben Brown finished third and seventh in the 600m run. Krueger crossed the tape in 1:23.18 while Brown finished in 1:24.42. Kyle Sauter placed eighth in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.57 and Logan Ogden placed eighth in the shot put with a toss of 48-10.25.
In relays, the men's 4x400 relay team of Kyle Sauter, Kevin Krueger, Brock Jensen and Steve Westerkamp placed second with time of 3:23.98 which met the NAIA provisional qualifying standard. The 4x800 relay team of Nick Tjeerdsma, Tyler Peekenschneider, Danny Owens and Jack Peterson placed fourth.
13 Red Raider athletes have now qualified and will compete at the NAIA Indoor Nationals held on March 6-8.
