CHADRON, Neb. -- The Chadron State College track and field team will be competing at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Meet this weekend at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction. The action starts  at noon three days in a row beginning Friday.
             
Coach Jake Gruver said 33 Eagles have qualified for the meet by having marks that rank among the top 24 in their events
             
With several of the team leaders redshirting this spring to preserve a year of eligibility that they'll use next spring, the Eagles may not score a large amount of points, but they should be competitive in numerous events.
             
The men's 200 meters has CSC's strongest event all season.  Redshirt freshman Ryan Clapper, a graduate of Southeast High at Yoder, Wyo., has the second-best time in the RMAC of 21.05 seconds.  Sophomore Quincy Efeturi of Nigeria is less than a half step behind at 21.13 seconds, fourth best.
             
Efeturi's 100 best of 10.59 seconds is also a top 10 mark.  The Eagles' 4x100 relay team that includes Clapper and Efeturi has the third best time of 40.85 seconds going to Grand Junction. That time is also second best all-time on the CSC list.
 
Gruver, a RMAC outdoors meet champion in both the 100 and 200 in 2010 while he was running for the Eagles,  believes Logan Peila, Jacob Jefferson and Malachi Swallow have a good chance of making the finals in the 400 hurdles. They'll also be on the 4x400 relay team that hopes to earn some points.

Leaders in the men's field events include Chadron native Chayton Bynes, who is third among the triple jumpers with a best of 48-9 ½ and is seventh in the long jump at 23-11 ¾.  Bynes was the silver medalist in the triple jump at the RMAC's Indoor Meet in February.

Senior Alec Penfield of Lusk, Wyo., is fifth on the pre-meet high jump list after clearing 6-8 ¾ this spring. Destiny Pelton of Fort Morgan, Colo., is tied for seventh in the women's high jump at 5-3.  Kristi Hill of Big Springs is among the top 10 in the pole vault, just a quarter of an inch below 11 feet.

Senior Madyson Schliep of Grand Island has thrown the hammer farther at nearly every meet this season and her best of 158-9 is 11^th in the RMAC.  Junior Christopher Jennings of O'Neill has also has gained distance in the hammer.  His best of 160-9 is 13^th. He was the runner-up in the 35-pound weight throw, a similar event, at this year's Indoor Meet.

Junior Kaden Dower of Riverton, Wyo., figures to place in the decathlon after earning fifth in the heptathlon at the indoor showdown.  

Last Friday, April 19, about a dozen CSC athletes competed at Nebraska-Kearney, hoping to get marks that would qualify them for the conference showdown. Some of them, such as Alissa Wieman of Box Elder, S.D., were coming off the injury list.  She ran well and placed second in the 1500 meters in 4:51.8. a career-best. 

Freshman Franklin Johns of Gordon ran career best times of 51.78 in the 400 meters and 2:00.72 in the 800. 

Here are lists of the RMAC track and field records that former Eagles hold:

Indoor Records:                                                                 Outdoor Records:
400 meters—Brodie Roden, 47.93, 2020                       400 meters—Joel Duffield, 45.92, 2006                                                                               
Long jump—Damarcus Simpson, 25-4 ½, 2016             110 high hurdles—Karl McFarlane, 14.00, 2013
Weight throw—Mel Herl, 71-6 ½, 2017                          Long jump—Damarcus Simpson, 25-8, 2016
Weight throw—Dan Reynolds 64-11 ½, 2022.               Shot put—Mel Herl, 53-7, 2017
                                                                                                 Discus—Mel Herl, 170-6, 2017             
                                                                                                Hammer—Mel Herl, 208-9, 2017