MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – NIACC track and field won four men’s events and two women’s events, and sophomore Lance Maxwell (So., Racine, WI) qualified for nationals in his second event at the Cornell Open on Saturday.
RJ Harris (So., Des Moines, IA), Justin Kerscher (Fr., Central City, IA), and Trey Taylor (Fr., Bloomfield, CT) all won individual titles. Harris won the 1500-meter run in 4:06.23, while Kerscher won the long jump with a leap of 6.05 meters (19’10¼”). Taylor won his second javelin title this season with a 54.70 meter (179’5”) toss.
Individually for women, only Tanesha Edmond (So., St. Elizabeth, Jamaica) came away with a win. She won the 400-meter hurdles in 1:03.57, which was nine-tenths of a second better than Sara Heizer of Coe, who placed second.
The Trojans also swept the 4×800-meter relays, with the men winning in 8:14.00 and the women winning in 10:19.86.
Maxwell, who qualified for the NJCAAs in the shot put at the Grand View Relays three weeks ago, placed third in the discus with a 48.01 meter (157’6”) throw to qualify for nationals in that event. That throw broke the national qualifying standard by 3.41 meters (11’2”).
Outside of Maxwell and meet winners, the Trojans had several top-five finishes. Eric Peters (Fr., Sioux City, IA) was second in the 200-meters in 22.59, Denzel Samson (So., Fort Worth, TX) placed third in the long jump with 5.79 meter (19’) jump, and Maxwell was third in the shot put by throwing 15.28 meters (47’9”).
Andrew Corcoran (So., Sumner, IA) and Marquez Hobson (So., Minneapolis, MN) collected fourth place finishes in the 800-meters and 5000-meters, respectively. Corcoran finished the 800 in 2:02.38 and Hobson finished the 5000 in 16:03.32.
Rounding out the men’s top-five individual finishers was Trent Smith’s (Fr., Charles City, IA) fifth in the 1500-meters (4:10.55) and Mat Ferris’ (So., LeMars, IA) fifth in the 400-meter hurdles (58.68).
The women also had a pair of fourth and fifth place finishers. Hillary Garvey (Fr., Hudson, IA) placed fourth in the 400-meters in 1:02.24, and McKenna Wragge (Fr., Hampton, IA) jumped 1.50 meters (4’11”) in the high jump for fourth.
Anna Buenneke (So., Hazelton, IA) placed fifth in the 1500-meters in 5:00.12, and Darcy Nelson (So., Lake Mills, IA) was fifth in the javelin with a 30.84 meter (101’2”) toss.
In relays, the men had a pair of second places in the 4×100 (44.37) and 4×400 (3:28.56).
NIACC will send some athletes to the Kansas Relays this week. That meet will start on Wednesday in Lawrence, Kansas.
