CRETE, Neb. – A pair of Concordia University track and field female athletes captured event titles on the opening day of the two-day Jim Dutcher Memorial hosted by Doane on Friday. Senior Liz King turned in a season best in the javelin while junior Emily Sievert beat out the competition in the 5,000 meter race for 24th-year head coach Kregg Einspahr’s nationally second-ranked women’s squad. Meanwhile, the third-ranked men got another solid performance from junior Lucas Wiechman, who represented the Bulldogs in the decathlon.
King, the 2014 javelin national champion, has risen to the top of the NAIA national leaderboard in the javelin with her throw of 150’ 7.” That mark allowed her to best the field of 33 javelin tossers. The top of the heap was dominated by Bulldogs as they went 1-3-4-5-7 in the event. Senior Katricia Svoboda was just shy of an automatic mark with her toss of 126’ 6” (third place). Sydney Meyer (125’ 7”) and Jasmine Eickhoff (121’ 10”) finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
The Dutcher Memorial provided the first opportunity of the spring for multi-event athletes to perform. Wiechman, a 2016 indoor All-American in the heptathlon and pole vault, sits in third place after half of the events have been scored in the decathlon. He ran a 100-meter dash time of 11.38 and has tallied 3,369 points. Wiechman is one of four Bulldogs competing in either the decathlon or heptathlon at Doane.
On the track Sievert won the 5,000 meter race in a time of 18:26.80. Taylor Grove placed third in the same race (19:35.85). Six different Bulldog women and two men competed in the 5,000 on Friday.
Eight different Concordia hammer throwers eclipsed automatic marks on Friday. The Bulldogs went 2-4-5 in the men’s hammer and 2-3-5-6-7 in the women’s hammer. King also led the way in the hammer with her mark of 183’ 4” – just five inches shy of her season best that ranks No. 2 on the NAIA national leaderboard. Two weeks after breaking the program record in the men’s hammer, senior Josh Slechta took second by recording a mark of 194’ 9.” In addition, Slechta placed second in the javelin (165’ 9”).
The Jim Dutcher Memorial resumes with field events at 11 a.m. on Saturday from Crete. Running events pick up at 1 p.m. The full event schedule can be viewed HERE.