CHADRON, Neb. – After an indoor season that produced two national qualifiers and one All-American, Chadron State will jump right into the outdoor season with its first competition this Friday and Saturday at the Dan Caprioglio Invitational on March 21-22.

The meet will open with the men's javelin and women's hammer throw at 10 a.m. Friday. Most of the meet, including the entirety of the track schedule, will take place Saturday. Live results are available online. 

Looking Back
In the indoor season, the Chadron State men finished in 10^th while the women finished 13^th. The Eagles then qualified two athletes for the DII Indoor National Championships.

RECAPS: RMAC Indoors | DII Indoor Nationals

Sophomore Chayton Bynes qualified for nationals in two events, winning All-American honors with a fifth-place finish in the triple jump and finishing 13^th in the long jump. With first team All-American honors going to the top eight competitors and second team All-Americans awarded to 9^th-12^th, Bynes was one place away from being a double All-American.

Christopher Jennings finished on the podium of the weight throw at the RMAC Meet and went on to place 14^th in the discipline at the national meet.

Looking Back (Farther)
The 2023-24 outdoor season for Chadron State was highlighted by a national qualification for the Eagles' 4x100 relay team. 

The team of Morgan Fawver, Esosa Iyengunmwena, Ryan Clapper and Quincy Efeturi made nationals by running a CSC-record 39.88 seconds at the Lopers Twilight Meet last May 14. Cole Perkins joined Iyengunmwena, Clapper and Efeturi at nationals, when the Eagles ran 40.63 to place 13^th. 

Iyengunmwena, Clapper and Efeturi all return to the Eagles this season, with Efeturi due back soon after he missed this indoor season with injury. Clapper (sixth in the 200) and Efeturi (seventh in the 100) both individually placed at last year's RMAC Championships, along with Chayton Bynes in the long jump.

National Preview?
In competing at CSU Pueblo, Chadron State has the luxury of opening the season on the same track as the NCAA Division II National Outdoor meet, which the ThunderWolves will host from May 22-24. 

It will be a busy spring for CSU Pueblo, which is currently scheduled to host track meets on three consecutive weekends starting with this week's Dan Caprioglio Invitational plus a last chance meet prior to the national championships.

Eagles to Watch
This season, Chadron State should have a strong throwing contingent throughout the outdoor season. Indoor national qualifier Christopher Jennings will compete in three different throwing disciplines – hammer, shot put and discus – during outdoors starting this weekend.

The Eagles are also expecting big things from a pair of javelin throwers in Philipsburg, Kansas's Trace Hanchett and Sierra Vista, Arizona's William Stemler, who is also a member of the CSC football team.
 
CSC's All-American jumper Chayton Bynes will not compete this weekend, but freshman Camila Salvucci is slated to on the women's side after both won triple jump and long jump events during the indoor season. 

The Season
Chadron State's current schedule, weather-permitting, currently has the Eagles make three trips to Colorado and two to South Dakota prior to the RMAC Championships from April 25-27 in Golden, Colorado.

After this weekend's Pueblo meet, the Eagles will head to Fort Collins for the Jack Christiansen Invitational at Colorado State University next weekend. The Eagles will visit Black Hills State on April 4-5 and South Dakota Mines on April 18-19 for meets, sandwiched around the Kit Mayer Classic on April 11-12 at Colorado School of Mines that will give CSC an opportunity to compete on the eventual RMAC Championship track.

After the RMAC meet, the Eagles will likely schedule specific runners in "last chance" meets, particularly options at Concordia (Neb.) and Nebraska-Kearney, in an attempt to secure national qualifiers for the NCAA Championships in Pueblo from May 22-24.

Coach's Corner
Jake Gruver, a former CSC All-American, returned to take over the Chadron State Track and Field program in September 2023. In the fall of 2024, Gruver also began overseeing Chadron State's cross-country program. 

Gruver was previously a CSC assistant coach in 2012 before working outside athletics. As an athlete for the Eagles, Gruver was a seven-time RMAC Champion and a one time All-American. His lone All-American accolade happened in 2011 when he was a member of the schools 4x100 relay team that placed sixth.

In Gruver's first season as cross country coach, the CSC women's team recorded its highest placing at the RMAC Championships since 2017. The Eagles also excelled in the classroom, with Kyle Shirley earning the RMAC Summit Award (the conference's highest individual academic honor) and Chadron State placing a program-record three student-athletes on the RMAC All-Academic Team.