The Northwestern College track and field teams opened its outdoor season with a solid showing at the Vance Butler Invitational hosted by Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Kendra DeJong led the Red Raiders with three top five finishes, including a first place showing in the high jump. In total, Northwestern turned in 11 top five performances and an additional 20 entries that placed in the top 10.
The freshman from Hospers, Iowa, claimed top honors in the high jump with a school record leap of 5-09.25. DeJong is seeded first nationally in the event at this time. She also finished fifth in the 100m hurdles with a time of 15.89 and then ran the third leg of the women's 4x400m relay that placed second with a time of 4:01.17 and met the NAIA provisional qualifying standard. Other relay team members include Stacey Dietrich, Ana Morgan and Krystina Smith. Dietrich also took third in the 100m hurdles with a time of 15.54 while Smith placed seventh in the 400m (61.51).
Northwestern featured several other outstanding performances, including Corrie Fautsch, who placed third in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:08.15. Charity Miles set a new school outdoor record with a time of 10:24.42 in the 3000m, placing third and trailing only a pair of Augustana College (NCAA D-II) runners. Sara Hess placed seventh in the same event, crossing the finish line in 10:49.18. Jenna Sorensen placed 10th in the 1500m run with a time of 5:09.95.
In the field events, Liz Stevens set a school record in the javelin with a toss of 109-06 and placed fourth overall. Danie Fry recorded a trio of top 10 finishes as the sophomore placed fifth in the shot put (38-02), sixth in the javelin (99-07) and eighth in the hammer (130-04). Shannon Bowar finished eighth in the javelin with a throw of 93-02 and Sable Lems placed 10th in the discus with a toss of 118-07. Kara Den Herder finished sixth in the hammer with a toss of 140-08. Rounding out the field events, Jana Olson (10-01.25) and Jackie Brooks (7-11.5) placed sixth and 10th, respectively, in the pole vault.
For the mens' team, Brandon Hammack led the way three top 10 finishes, including a fourth place finish in the 100m with a time of 11.02. He then combined with Taylor Hoekstra, Parker Moore and Luke Hofmeyer to place fifth overall in the 4x100 (43.31) followed by a seventh place showing in the 4x400m relay. Team members include Tim Vermeer, Rick TeGrootenhuis and Mark Johnson. Jordan Boekhout finished seventh in the 110m hurdles with a time of 17:37.
Paul Lundgren led the men's team in the field events with a fourth place finish in the discus (143-01) and a sixth place showing in the shot put (45-05.75). Kiley Murra placed eighth in the shot put with a throw of 44-02.75. Two Raiders finished in the top 10 in the long jump, led by Derrious Johnson who finished seventh with a leap of 20-04.5. Lucas Peterson finished 10th with a leap of 19-11.75. Mark Mineart cleared 6-02 to place eighth in the high jump.
More press release coming later...Official Results (PDF)
Northwestern will next compete in the Red Raider Open on Saturday, April 10.
