Men's Track and Field Thursday, April 27, 2023

Men's 4x100m Relays Shatters School Record; Now 10th in NAIA

YANKTON, S.D. – After snow in late April at last week's Red Raider Open, it seemed like the weather would never warm up as the season began to come to a close, but Yankton, South Dakota decided to prove the Raiders wrong. The temps began to rise as the meet progressed and the performances rose along with it. This was also the last regular season meet before a select few Raiders compete at the Drake Relays Friday the 28^th and Saturday the 29^th, and the Great Plains Atheltic Conference (GPAC) Championship meet happens on May 5-6.

Through a numerous amount of PRs at the twilight meet, it could arguabaly be highlighted by the 4x100m relay. Having already hit the NAIA national mark, the team was trying out a new order of athletes and simply using the meet to test the chemistry. Grant Palmer would lead off for the team on the first leg and would pull away from the other competetiors as soon as the gun would go off. Cody Post, waiting on the second leg would get all the help he would need from Palmer, as their exchange would put them easily in first place, forcing Post to run alone through the rest of his 100m. Third up was Braden Jahn, seamlessly working his way through his start and getting the baton from Post comfortably in the lead. By this point, Post, and now Jahn, were running by themselves, without anyone else to push them. Finally Jahn would be coming up fast to the final 100m leg, where Ashton Sandbulte would be waiting. Taking off a little more aggressively than normal, Sandbulte would almost outrun Jahn on the exchange, leading onlookers to form the opinion that the race was about to become either really good, or really bad. Jahn managed to just barely reach to get the baton to Sandbulte in the final inches of the exchange zone, leading Sandbulte to yet again be out on his own in the race. The team would finish in a time of 40.92, smashing the previous school record of 41.32, an eternity in the world of sprinting. At the writing of this, their new time brings the NWC Raiders up from 20^th to 10^th place in the NAIA Rankings.

🏃 𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙋𝙍𝙊𝙂𝙍𝘼𝙈 𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙊𝙍𝘿!

The men's 4x100 team his a program best mark of 40.92 at today's Mount Marty Twilight!#RaidersStandOut | @NWCTRACK pic.twitter.com/dqxg9cnPPr
— NWC Red Raiders (@nwcraiders) April 27, 2023

The rest of the meet would show this same speed as the sprints would still be up with the 100m dashes. Reece Wynne, would finish in third place in the 100m with a PR of 10.87, followed by Braden Kalvelage in sixth place finishing in 10.92. Karson Gieseke would also run a PR 11.89 in his first race of the outdoor season, after nagging injuries made him hesitatant to run full force in the race. Later in the 200m dash, Wynne would be back to gain 3^rd place yet again, even with a stumble out of the blocks, with a finish of 23.10 into a headwind. Hot on his tail would be Aziah Ashley, also into a headwind, to finish in seventh place with a time of 23.59. Just before, Ashley ran a PR 400m dash to lead the Raiders in the event finshing in 52.27. The final sprint event contested woud be the 400m Hurdles where Gunner Vargas led the Raiders for the day in his first ever sub-one minute race, finishing in 59.59 seconds and gaining seventh place. AJ Bomgaars, running virtually by himself, would just barely miss the coveted 60 second mark in his 1:00.79, 10^th place finish, also his PR time.

The distance races continued to impress as all three men in the 1500m run would PR their way through the finish. Leading would be Daniel Nordquist as he pushed the pace to keep up with the rest of the pack. Feeling the fatigue of the third lap, as he headed into his fourth, Nordquist gritted his teeth and kept on pushing, and it would pay off in his PR finish of 4:20.72. In a similar vein, Tommy Tracy and David Bernhagen also finished to PRs of 4:29.12 and 4:54.25, respectively. The men in the 5000m run would feed off of the day's energy, finally getting their chance to run after the long day. Leading the charge would be Ben VanDeBerg, keeping his head up on his way to a third place finish, and his goal of breaking the 16 minute barrier. He would finish in 15:59.53, just ahead of fellow teammate Braeden Brough, also in a PR time of 17:15.62 getting him eighth place overall.

The field events would end up no less exciting. In the high jump, three Raiders would be part of a four-way tie for fifth place. Andrew Frick, Drew Geetings, and Harland Groves would all hit their final clearance of 1.80m on their first attempt. Rhythms would be thrown off when other competetions being competed simultaneously would cause a halt in the high jump competition, leading to those athletes getting cold and unfocused through the rest of their jumps. Over at the throws ring, Bryan Zylstra finshed in third place in the shot put, on his first throw of 14.79m and would later in the meet, long into the evening, PR again in the discus, with a final throw of 45.95m in his fourth place finish. William Minnick, specialist in the hammer throw, would take four throws to reach his final sixth place finish with the distance of 46.90, just off of his PR of 47.19m.

The final throw of the day would be the javelin, where Josh Henkenius finished in fifth place, hitting a PR mark on his first two throws of the day, ending at 46.72m.

Raider Top - 10
100m Dash

Reece Wynne 10.87 – 3^rd
Braden Kalvelage 10.92 – 6^th

200m Dash

Reece Wynne 23.10 – 3^rd
Aziah Ashley 23.59 – 7^th

5000m Run

Ben VanDeBerg 15:59.52 – 3^rd
Braeden Brough 17:15.62 – 8^th
Brayden Dirks 17:35.92 – 10^th

400m Hurdles

Gunner Vargas 59.59 – 7^th
AJ Bomgaars 1:00.79

4x100m Relay

Grant Palmer, Cody Post, Braden Jahn, Ashton Sandbulte 40.92 – 1^st NAIA Auto

High Jump

Harland Groves 1.80m – 5^th
Drew Geetings 1.80m – 5^th
Andrew Frick 1.80m – 5^th
Coltin Vargas 1.75m – 9^th

Triple Jump

Liam Raymon 11.83 – 10^th

Shot Put

Bryan Zylstra 14.79m – 3^rd

Discus

Bryan Zylstra 45.95m – 4^th

Hammer

Will Minnick 46.90 – 6^th

Javelin

Josh Henkenius 46.72 – 5^th

Raider Rankings in the NAIA:
Braden Kavelage

Long Jump: 2nd

4x100m Relay – Palmer, Post, Jahn, Sandbulte

10^th

Up Next: The Men's and Women's track and field teams will be competing at Drake Relays, Friday April 28^th, and Saturady April 29^th. The Mens 4x100m relay, as well as Mens and Womens 4x400m relays will be contested on Friday, with Men's Long Jump, Women's High Jump, and Men's Javelin on Satuday.

Don't forget to follow Northwestern College Athletics on Facebook @nwcraiders, Twitter @nwcraiders, and Instagram @nwcraiders! #RaidersStandOut

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Players Mentioned

Harland Groves: Jumps; Sophomore

Josh Henkenius: Sprints; Junior

Braden Jahn: Sprints; Senior

William Minnick: Throws; Senior

Daniel Nordquist: Distance; Senior

Grant Palmer: Sprints; Sophomore

Cody Post: Sprints; Senior

Gunner Vargas: Hurdles; Sophomore

Tyreece Wynne: Sprints; Junior

David Bernhagen: Distance; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Harland Groves
: Sophomore
: Jumps

Josh Henkenius
: Junior
: Sprints

Braden Jahn
: Senior
: Sprints

William Minnick
: Senior
: Throws

Daniel Nordquist
: Senior
: Distance

Grant Palmer
: Sophomore
: Sprints

Cody Post
: Senior
: Sprints

Gunner Vargas
: Sophomore
: Hurdles

Tyreece Wynne
: Junior
: Sprints

David Bernhagen
: Sophomore
: Distance