CHADRON, Neb. – The Eagle track team put their speed on display at the Wayne State College NCAA Showdown indoor track and field meet held Saturday as the CSC men captured both first and second in the 60 and 200-meter dashes, and claimed five of the top six placers overall in the 200.
In the 200,
Ayden Hartzell was the winner 21.80 seconds,
Ryan Clapper was second in 21.87 and
Christopher Cormier was fourth in 22.21. In addition, CSC's
Esosa Iyengunmwena was fifth (22.37) and
Kevin Day was sixth (22.50) in the race, which drew 29 entries. An Augustana runner snared third place to interrupt the Eagles' dominance.
Hartzell's 200 time is the third fastest in CSC school history, and Clapper's is fifth.
Iyengunmwena, a senior from Nigeria, won both the preliminaries and the finals of the 60-meter dash Saturday with times of 6.97 and 6.95 seconds, respectively. Augustin Chaing, a CSC newcomer from Arizona this semester, was fifth in the 60 prelims in 7.06 seconds, then lowered his time to 7.01 in the finals to give the Eagles the top two places in that race.
Not all of the Chadron State male place-winners on the track were sprinters.
Wyatt Bly was second in the 3000 meters in 8:36.05, and
Ethan Norris was sixth in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.61. Both times are career bests.
The Chadron State women also had some highlights.
Shelby Ekwall won the shot put for the third time in three meets this winter with her CSC best of 44-2 ¾ and
Camila Salvucci was the triple jump winner with a leap of 38-8.
Each had a teammate place in the same event.
Kristie Jordan was fifth in the shot at 41- ½, her best by 16 inches, and
Mataya Ward was fourth in the triple jump at 34-7 ½, another personal best.
On the track,
Eva Nitschke was fourth in the hurdles and
Paige Kehmeier was fifth in the 400. Athletes from seven NCAA Division II schools competed in the meet.
Chadron State will host the Don Holst Open Meet this coming Saturday, January 31.