Pride close out final indoor meet before conference at UW-Platteville

PLATTEVILLE, Wis. - Nearing the end of the indoor track and field season, the Clarke University track and field teams scored nearly identical team points at the UW-Platteville Invite on Saturday.

There were a couple of records met/set in events as Daniel Adams tied the school record in the high jump while also hitting the NAIA B Standard for national championship qualification with his 2.02-meter clearance to win the event as he ties his teammate Tyler Kell who finished Saturday in third place with a 1.90-meter best jump.

Other jumping event scored well for the Pride as both James Vandun and Brandon Martin scored for CU in the long jump with Vandun finishing fourth at a 6.52-meter jump and Martin finishing in sixth at 6.26 meters while Jake Rouse finished in second place in the pole vault at a clearance of 4.33 meters.

A relay team also notched a new school record as the distance medley relay group of Emmett Schwartzhoff, Josh Musonda, Chesney Capron, and Daniel Miller clocked in at a 10:45.10 time, beating the previous school record time by just over four seconds as Miller was on the only two DMR relay teams to run sub-11 in CU history.

Adams also finished with a third place in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.57 seconds, Gavayne Smith continued strong runs in the 60-meter dash with a fourth place 6.87-second finals time, Musonda and Lucas van Loon both scored in the 400 meters as Musonda earned fourth with a 50.51 and van Loon clocked in a 52.42 for sixth, and Jake Etherington scored a point with an eighth place 22.98 in the 200-meters to round out the top running scores for CU.

On the women's side, pole vault saw three scoring performances led by Emma Grant's 3.17-meter best clearance as Autumn McLaughlin cleared 3.02 meters in third, and Malia Beich finished in sixth at 2.57 meters. 

More jumpers that scored points for the Pride were Sydney Norman and Anya Ranson in the high jump as they tied for third place, both clearing 1.45 meters on their first attempt, Gracee Roig (9.69 meters) and Kayley Crain (9.63 meters) scored in the triple jump, and Isabelle Matthews finished in fourth place with a 4.60-meter best jump in the long jump.

Clarke saw three women's runners score points led by a 10-point finish for Rory Bickler in the 3,000 meters, as Annemarie Korner earned a fifth place in the 60-meter hurdles, and Keona Coleman finished in seventh place in the 800 meters.

The Pride will now prepare to compete for Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships when they head to Maryville, Mo. for the Heart Championships on Feb. 16-17 next week.