The Event... The Northwestern College track and field teams will compete in the GPAC Outdoor Championships hosted by Morningside College at Elwood Olsen Stadium in Sioux City, Iowa. Competition will get underway around noon with the field events and the women's 10,000m run. Click on the following link to view the schedule of events: Meet Schedule.
The Teams... All 13 GPAC teams will be participating this weekend. To view the official Heat Sheets, click on the following link: 2008 GPAC Outdoor Championship Heat Sheets.
Last Week... Several Red Raider athletes competed at the Drake Relays or Kip Janvrin Open at Simpson College last weekend. 12 Northwestern College track and field athletes comprised four relay teams that competed at the Drake Relays. The women's 4x800m relay team ran a season best 9:27.07 and placed third in the college division. They have the sixth best time in the entire NAIA and are seeded first heading into the GPAC Championships this weekend. Team members include: Laura Jacobson, Lori Wolf, Delainye Hardersen and Olivia Johnson. Northwestern earned a pair of fourth place finishes in the women's 4x400 and distance medley. In the 4x400, the team of Andrea Wedel, Emily DeWeerd, Jess Regan and Laura Jacobson fought through 20mph winds and rain to run their second fastest time of the year, 4:02.13, and crossed the line in fourth place. The distance medley team of Jacobson, Regan, Hardersen and Johnson set a school record with a time of 12:06.24 and also placed fourth in the college division. The men's 4x100m relay ran a season's best time of 43.17 despite the wet and windy conditions and placed fourth in their heat. Team members include: Kyle Blankers, Jameson Guthmiller, Jordan Langer and Luke Hofmeyer. They are seeded third this weekend at the GPAC Championships.
Members of the throwing crew from the Northwestern College track and field team competed at the Kip Janvrin Open hosted by Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa yesterday (April 25). Logan Ogden led the way with a sixth place finish in the discus with a toss of 146-09. The freshmen also finished in 12th place in the shot put with a toss of 45-07, one place in back of teammate Paul Lundgren who placed 11th in the shot put with a toss of 45-07.75. Lundgren also finished in 15th place in the discus with a toss of 134-06. Josh Earleywine placed 16th in the hammer throw with a throw of 144-01. The women were led by Rae Taylor who finished in 25th place in the javelin with a throw of 72-08. She also placed 31st in the discus (109-05) and 44th in the hammer throw (107-06). Kara Den Herder placed 36th in the discus (104-04) and 29th in the hammer throw (124-03). Teryn DeHaan finished in the 39th place in the discus (99-06) while Sarah Earleywine placed 50th in the hammer throw (105-06).
Last Year… The Northwestern College women's and men's track teams ran at the GPAC championships on Friday, May 11, 2007. The meet was originally scheduled for Saturday, May 5 but was moved due to adverse weather on that date in Seward, Neb., hosted by Concordia University.
As a team, the Red Raiders placed seventh in both the men's and women's rankings with 37.5 points. Doane College ran away with the women's title with 259 total points, over 100 points ahead of second place Concordia. Nebraska Wesleyan won the men's title with 213.5, just ahead of Doane with 212.
Nick Fynaardt earned a first place finish and the GPAC championship in the shot put with a toss of 54-07 and surpassed the NAIA qualifying standard once again by over three feet. Andrew Ortmeier placed seventh in the discus with a toss of 154-07 and then recorded an eighth place finish in the hammer with a throw of 155-10. Robbie Cundy and Kyle Sauter earned points in the hurdle events. Cundy, a senior from Madison, S.D., and Sauter, a freshman from Alta, Iowa, finished fourth and eighth, respectively, in the 110m hurdles. Cundy then followed with a second place finish in the 400m hurdles with a time of 53.95. Three men's relay teams earned points, led by 4x100 relay which established a new school record with a time of 42.34. The team of Kyle Blankers, Jameson Guthmiller, Josh Hartman and Luke Hofmeyer placed fourth and provisionally qualified for the national meet. Both the 4x400 and 4x800 men's relay teams placed sixth overall. The 4x400 relay team consisted of Sauter, Ben Brown, Brock Jensen and Cundy. The 4x800 relay team was comprised of Nick Tjeerdsma, Mark Den Hartog, Brown and Dan Lichter.
Junior Jess Regan and junior Miranda Boekhout placed third in their respective events to lead the women's team. Regan met the NAIA provisional qualifying standard in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:05.41. Boekhout cleared 5'04" in the high jump. Freshman Emily De Weerd recorded a pair of top eight finishes. She placed sixth in the 200m dash with a time of 26.47 and then followed with a seventh place finish in the 100m hurdles. Teammate and fellow freshman Andrea Wedel placed sixth in the 100m hurdles with a time of 15.58. Laura Jacobson was the other individual place winner for the women with a time of 2:19.14 and a sixth place finish in the 800m run. The women's 4x400m relay team comprised of Regan, Jacobson, Wedel and Megan Harding took home a third place finish with a time of 4:00.59. The 4x100 relay (De Weerd, Wedel, Emily Gaalswyk and Harding) placed fourth while the 4x800 relay (Mary Maasen, Sarah Korver, Amanda Schweiger and Sarah Storm) finished fifth.
Red Raider Notes... Steve Westerkamp is seeded ninth in the 400m dash (50.03) and Kyle Sauter is seventh in the 110m hurdles (15.15) and 10th in the 400m hurdles (57.69). The men's 4x100 relay is seeded third (43.17), just 1.32 seconds away from meeting the NAIA qualifying mark. In the field events, Michael Ortmeier is seeded seventh in the high jump (6-05) while Logan Ogden is ninth in the shot put (49-03) and 11th in the discus (146-09).
For the women's team, Laura Jacobson is seeded second in the 400m dash (58.97), just 1.5 seconds shy of the national qualifying mark. The senior is also fourth in the 800m run (2:19.47) and is a member of the 4x400 relay and 4x800 relay teams which are seeded third and first, respectively. Olivia Johnson is second in the 800m (2:14.55) and first in the 1,500m run (4:39.1), both of which she has qualified for the national meet. Charity Miles is third in the 10,000m (38:27.9) while Sara Hess and Ingrid Carlson are seventh and ninth, respectively. Emily DeWeerd is seeded ninth in the 100m hurdles (15.78) and Jess Regan is eighth in the 400m hurdles (1:06.67). In the field events, Angela Wiersma is 10th in the triple jump (33-11.25), Kaitlin Beaver is eighth in the high jump (5-04.25) and Amy Katsma is ninth in the shot put (38-09.75).
Next up... There will be a “last chance” meet in Sioux Falls on May 8 and the NAIA national meet will be held May 22-24 in Edwardsville, Missouri.
