Men's Track and Field Sunday, May 7, 2023 NWC Athletic Communications

Kalvelage and Men's 4x100 Win Titles at GPAC Championships

Raiders Hit Five NAIA National Qualifing Marks

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – The regular season ended in more PR performances, All-Conference marks, and NAIA National qualifying marks than a title can give justice. With multiple lightning delays on Friday, the Raiders pressed on and got the job done they came to do. Ultimately, Ben Thelander would hit the NAIA Provisional mark in the Javelin, Joseph Kunert hit the NAIA Provisional mark in the 3000m steeplechase, Braden Kalvelage would re-hit the NAIA Auto Mark in the long jump, the 4x100m relay broke their own school record with another NAIA Automatic mark and the event win, and the 4x400m relay hit the NAIA provisional mark to cap off the end of a thrilling meet. This would be first time since 2013 that NWC won the 4x100m title, and the first time since 2003 that the men's 4x400m qualified for the NAIA Outdoor championship.

Starting on Friday, the men's decathlon would begin 2 & ½ hours later than scheduled due to repeated lightning delays and anticipated rain that never seemed to show up. Starting the event with the 100m dash, Ben Thelander and Elijah Weaver, would both run PRs in the event, Weaver now down to 11.88 and Thelander to a blazing 11.41. Second event, the long jump for the men, Thelander would jump 6.28m, just centimeters behind Weaver of 6.30m, both about .1m off of their lifetime PRs. Onto the shot put, Thelander would jump back up in the rankings as his 6'7" frame would help to launch the 16lb metal ball out to 10.70m or 35' 1". Weaver would be just off his PR of 9.44m in the event with a toss of 9.29m. Next up being the high jump, Thelander would be yet again just off his lifetime best of 1.94m, with a finishing jump of 1.86m or 6'1" on his final attempt. Weaver, would unfortunately be unable to find a rhythm in the event and only clear 1.77m or 5'9". The final event on day 1 of the decathlon, the grueling 400m dash, would see the two Raiders embrace Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Thelander would be the first one to come around the 300m mark with Weaver mere feet away. The men would come side by side with 50m left, both pushing each other to be their best, on their way to Weaver finishing in a PR 53.76, just barely edging out Thelander in 53.90.

At the same time as the decathlon was being contested, William Minnick would step foot in the hammer ring for his final meet of senior season. A foul on his first throw would begin to start the nerves running but he would calm then down for his next two throw to connect, with the farthest being 43.92m or 144' 1". Following the hammer was the long jump where Braden Kalvelage and Will Bunn would be competing for their highest places. On his very first jump, Kalvelage would secure the win by over an entire foot in front of 2^nd place. He would end up hitting the NAIA Auto mark again, with a final jump of 7.48m or 24' 6.5". Bunn would also have an incredible leap on his very first jump, hitting 22' 10" or 6.96m to finish in 3^rd place overall, his highest GPAC Championship finish to date. The final field event for the day was the javelin throw. Josh Henkenius, on his first attempt would yet again hit a PR throw of 46.92m. Battling hard he would secure his spot in finals with that mark, but be unable to increase the mark, barely missing 8^th place for his final spot of 9^th. Thelander, finishing the decathlon 400m literal minutes before the start of the javelin, would need 2 attempts to make his way to finals amidst feeling waves of nausea from the 400m. He would hit 50.80m on his second attempt to make finals. On his 5^th throw, he would hit a massive 2 meter PR, nearly 6 feet, out to 54.33m to put himself into 3^rd place where he would ultimately finish at. The NAIA Provisional mark being 55.00m, Thelander was not satisfied, so he lined up for his last attempt, and with a massive yell on release, would PR by another 2 meters, another 6 feet, with a 56.15m, 184' 3" distance, punching his ticket to the NAIA Outdoor National Championship.

Starting the running events at the end of day 1, was the 100m dash and the 110m hurdles. The 100m dash would see 6 Raiders qualify for the championship meet. Cody Post would lead the men in the race, finishing 10^th overall in a win legal PR time of 10.85 nearly neck and neck with Braden Jahn in the same heat, also in a wind-legal PR time of 10.91. AJ Bomgaars was the lone Raider to qualify in the 110 hurdles, running 16.25 in the meet to finish in 9^th place. The final running event day 1 was the 4x800m relay. Tommy Tracy, Jacob Kalkwarf, David Bernhagen, and Daniel Nordquist ran to a 10^th place finish overall in 8:49.82.

Day 2 of the meet would start with the Decathlon at a bright and early 9am. Thelander would not compete day 2, leaving Weaver the lone Raider in the event. Day 2 wold see Weaver PR in 4 out of the 5 events. A 15.93 110 hurdle PR would lead directly into the discus throw where his first throw would be a PR 23.31m/76'6" PR. Weaver would jump an astonishing 7" PR in the pole vault, finishing at 3.40m or 11'1.75". a 35.87m javelin throw would precede his PR 1500m run time of 5:07.59 where he would sprint to a 3^rd place finish. This sprint finish would just sneak him into 5^th place in the competition with a final score of 5455, just off of the 5600 needed for the NAIA provisional mark.

Starting off the track events for the day was the 3000m steeplechase which had Nordquist come back from day 1 to win his heat in the event in a PR time of 10:24.17. The second heat saw Senior Distance Captain Joseph Kunert, keeping pace with the lead pack through most of the race, in a true all out sprint finish, come across the line 4^th place. He ended up crushing the NAIA provisional mark of 9:32.00, finishing in 9:26.40, punching his ticket to the NAIA Outdoor National Championships. That would be the second of 4 national marks hit this day. The 3^rd would come in the very next race, the 4x100m relay, with all 4 members back from the 100m preliminaries on day 1. Starting off the race, Grant Palmer handed off to Post on the second leg. Coming in hot with the help of a little bit of tail wind, he handed off to Jahn who carried the baton to the anchor leg of Ashton Sandbulte. Losing a little bit of ground in the first few meters, Sandbulte would find another gear and edge out the rival time to take the 4x100m title. Their finishing time of 40.82 would re-break their own school record, raise their NAIA rank to 10^th place again, and be the first time since 2013 that the men's 4x100m relay was won by Northwestern.

At the same the excitement on the track was going on, the high jump and discus would be going on. Weaver would be the highest finish of the 6 Raiders in the high jump, coming back from the decathlon to a 1.95m or 6'4" clearance in a 9^th place finish. Bryan Zylstra however, would add a couple meters to every throw he would have in the discus ring. His first throw of 43.86m turned into a 45.61m throw, that finalized into a 47.51m ro 155'10" throw on his third toss. That would end up being his farthest throw of the competition, finishing in 4^th place when it was all said and done. The final throwing event, the shot put, had both Minnick and Zylstra back, for one more time in the ring this season. Minnick would throw nearly a lifetime PR of 13.50m, a massive 44' 3.5". Zylstra would secure his spot in finals on his first throw of 14.65m or 48' .75". Confident he would then push his throws to 4 foul marks, with his first throw being his best, but finishing in 7^th place. The last field event was Liam Raymon and Noah Lopez both with massive PRs to end their season. Lopez would finish with 11.94m or 39' 2.25" on his third and final attempt, and Raymon would also hit his PR on his third attempt at 13.21m or 43' 4.25", just squeaking his way into finals. Unable to improve his mark he would finish in 9^th place overall.

Finally back on the track, as the sun was rising overhead and keeping things toasty on the track, the 800m was where Trey Engelmann would be the next scorer for the Raiders. In a last 100m sprint finish, he finished in 7^th place in a time of 1:57.26. The 400m hurdles, would see Bomgaars back again on the track, unfortunately missing scoring contention, but running a lifetime PR in the event in 58.31. Next, the 200m, had the sprinters back from day 1 in the 100m dash, and back from the record setting 4x100m relay. Post would lead the Raiders again to a 5^th place finish in 21.77, 8^th being Jahn in 21.91. Palmer back in a PR 22.15, Kalvelage in a PR 22.16, Tyreece Wynne in a PR 22.61, and Sandbulte in collegiate PR of 22.66. Following was the 5k where Kunert would come back to race, just behind Ben VandeBerg. Kunert would finish 15^th in 16:19.48, and Van DeBerg in 14^th in 16:04.70.

Finally, the last event of the 4x400m relay was up, with all teams scattered around the track. Jahn would be back again, for his 4^th race over the last two days to being the relay less than an hour after the 200m dash. Running a phenominal leg he would put the Raiders in 1^st as he handed off to Post, also back for his 4^th race of the day. Maintaining 1^st, Post would fight back the rest of the field as he come through to hand off to Mitch Oostra who would feel the energy from the crowd, and take the cue from Jahn and Post, kept the other teams at bay, with one of his fastest runs of his life, to maintain the first place lead for the Raiders. Back from the tough 800m earlier in the day, Engelmann would hold on as long as he could to the lead the others had created for him. Gritting his teeth he kept on pushing, as the team finished in 3^rd place in 3:17.42. This was the 4^th NAIA National Mark hit as the Provisional was 3:17.70. It is also the first time since 2003, NWC has hit the men's 4x400m outdoor relay standard.

MTRACK | Let's take a look at our @GPACSports men's All-Conference performers from this year's conference championships!#RaidersStandOut | @NWCTRACK pic.twitter.com/FatwzNEaJb
— NWC Red Raiders (@nwcraiders) May 7, 2023

Raiders All-Conference Top-8
200m Dash

Cody Post 21.77 – 5^th
Braden Jahn 21.91 – 8^th

800m Run

Trey Engelmann 1:57.26 – 7^th

3000m Steeplechase

Joseph Kunert 9:26.40 – 4^th NAIA Provisional Mark

4x100m Relay

Grant Palmer, Cody Post, Braden Jahn, Ashton Sandbulte 40.82 – 1^st NAIA Auto Mark

4x400m Relay

Braden Jahn, Cody Post, Mitch Oostra, Trey Engelmann 3:17.42 – 3^rd NAIA Provisional Mark

Long Jump

Braden Kalvelage 7.48m – 1^st NAIA Auto Mark
Will Bunn 6.96m – 3^rd

Shot Put

Bryan Zylstra 14.65 – 7^th

Discus

Bryan Zylstra 47.51 – 4^th

Javelin

Ben Thelander 56.15 – 3^rd NAIA Provisional Mark

Decathlon

Elijah Weaver 5^th – 5455 points

Raider Rankings in the NAIA:
Braden Kavelage – Long Jump

7.59m – 2^nd

Joseph Kunert – 3000m Steeplechase

9:26.40 – 20^th

Ben Thelander - Javelin

56.15m – 26^th

4x100m Relay – Palmer, Post, Jahn, Sandbulte

40.82 – 10^th

4x400m Relay – Jahn, Post, Oostra, Engelmann

3:17.42 – 16^th

Up Next: Some of the men's and women's track and field teams might compete at the Concordia Last Chance meet on Friday, May 12^th, otherwise they will be studying for their final exams. Seniors will have Commencement on Saturday the 13^th, and the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships will be competed on May 24^th, 25^th and 26^th.

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

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Players Mentioned

Trey Engelmann: Distance; Sophomore

Josh Henkenius: Sprints; Junior

Braden Jahn: Sprints; Senior

Joseph Kunert: Distance; Senior

William Minnick: Throws; Senior

Daniel Nordquist: Distance; Senior

Mitch Oostra: Mid-Distance; Senior

Grant Palmer: Sprints; Sophomore

Cody Post: Sprints; Senior

Ben Thelander: High Jump/Hurdles; Junior

Players Mentioned

Trey Engelmann
: Sophomore
: Distance

Josh Henkenius
: Junior
: Sprints

Braden Jahn
: Senior
: Sprints

Joseph Kunert
: Senior
: Distance

William Minnick
: Senior
: Throws

Daniel Nordquist
: Senior
: Distance

Mitch Oostra
: Senior
: Mid-Distance

Grant Palmer
: Sophomore
: Sprints

Cody Post
: Senior
: Sprints

Ben Thelander
: Junior
: High Jump/Hurdles