CHADRON, Neb. – Chadron State track and field is all set for another midweek meet when the team travels to the Bauer Open at South Dakota Mines on Wednesday in what will be the final chance for many to qualify for the RMAC Outdoor Championships next weekend. 

The Rapid City meet was originally scheduled for the weekend, but will be held on Wednesday due to weather forecasts. Track events will begin at 9 a.m. while field events are set to kick off at 9:30. For a full meet schedule, click here.

After this weekend's competitions, those in the top 24 of the RMAC leaderboard of each event will qualify for the conference championships. Eagle competitors either just inside or just outside that top 24 bubble will be under a lot of pressure to deliver a season-best mark to solidify a spot.  

Looking Back
Chadron State split up its team last week as the sprinters and field athletes competed at the Mines Midweek & Multi on April 8-9 while the distance runners went to the Kit Mayer Classic on April 11. Both meets took place at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado. 

RECAPS: Mines Midweek Day 1 | Mines Midweek Day 2 | Kit Mayer Classic

Midweek standouts included Sydney Alles, who jumped up to the No. 5 mark in the RMAC in the women's weight throw and more than proving she belonged while competing in an invite-only field of nine competitors, most of which were Division I. 

Chayton Bynes won the triple jump and came second in the long jump while the Eagles swept the podium places and had seven of the top 9 finishers in the 200 meters, led by Ryan Clapper (21.28 seconds), Ayden Hartzell (21.35) and Christopher Cormier (21.78).

The distance meet over the weekend saw Paige Kehmeier in the 800 meters, Lydia Peters in the 10,000 and Katelyn Beshara in the steeplechase all move into the top 25 in the RMAC leaderboards. 

Doing it All
Two CSC decathletes emerged as conference contenders at the Mines Midweek & Multi last week, with one Eagle nabbing a provisional qualifying score. 

Courtney Williams, a redshirt sophomore from Jamaica, won the decathlon at the Mines meet with 6,506 points while sophomore Ethan Norris placed fourth at the event with 5,904 points. Those point totals have the duo ranked No. 3 and No. 8, respectively, in the RMAC. 

During his victory, Williams finished in the top three in six of 10 events. He won the long jump (22-6.5), finished second in the 400 meters, 110 hurdles and high jump and finished third in the 100 meters and javelin. 

Norris finished fourth in both the 110 hurdles and the 1500-meter run, while placing fifth in the long jump and pole vault for four top-five finishers in the 14-athlete field. 

Both will have a chance to compete at the conference meet, but Williams has an eye on competing at nations. Williams's score of 6,506 met the NCAA provisional qualifying standard, but currently ranks No. 20 in Division II, outside the top 16 of entries accepted into the national meet. 

Williams needs over 6700-6800 points at the RMAC Championships to be safely in the nationals field, which would be a top-three mark in Chadron State decathlon history.

On the Bubble
As of April 14, Chadron State has 17 individual marks and three relays within the top 10 of the RMAC leaderboards (men and women combined). 

Below is a list of athletes who have marks ranked between No. 20 and No. 30 in the RMAC and need a big result this week to either lock down their qualifying spot or get over the hump to get into the field. 

Men's
100 – Augustin Chiang, 24^th, 10.89
400 – Kadin Perez, 28^th, 49.85
Shot put – Tavion Leatherdale, 21^st, 14.12m (46-4); Caleb Christensen, 25^th, 13.70m (44-11.5)
Discus – Noah Shoemaker, 24^th, 41.21m (135-2); Caleb Christensen, 25^th, 41.10m (134-10)
Hammer – Casey Miller, 23^rd, 46.11 m (151-3); Caleb Christensen, 24^th, 45.57m (149-6)

Women's
100 – Wongel Molla, 30^th, 12.64
400 – Paige Kehmeier, 21^st, 59.53
800 – Paige Kehmeier, 25^th, 2:23.06
10,000 – Lydia Peters, 25^th, 39:00.78
400 hurdles – Shelbi Hazlitt, 25^th, 1:17.70
3000 steeplechase – Katelyn Beshara, 21^st, 12:32.83
High jump – Cordaelia Williams, 29^th, 1.50 (4-11)
Pole vault – Cassandra Wulff, 20^th, 2.75m (9-0.25)
Shot put – Allison Beard, 29^th, 10.37m (34-0.25)
Discus – Sydney Alles, 27^th, 36.96m (121-3); Sophia Gilbert, 30^th, 34.42m (112-11)
Hammer – Sophia Gilbert, 25^th, 40.14m (131-8)

Eagle Smarts
Last Thursday, the RMAC released its All-Academic teams for both men's and women's indoor track, and Chadron State was well represented. 

Six CSC student-athletes – Camila Salvucci, Madison Clause, Lydia Peters and Sydney Alles on the women's side and Keaton Mills and Caleb Christensen on the men's – received First Team All-Academic honors. It is the first career indoor track first team honors for all six, although Peters has two previous first-team selections as a cross country athlete. 

STORY: Four Women, Two Men Earn First Team Indoor All-Academic

In addition, the six first-team honorees were among 32 Eagles that were on the All-Academic honor roll. 

It continued the academic awards momentum for Eagle track as Clause, a senior from Billings, Montana, was previously given the RMAC Summit Award as the student-athlete with the highest GPA among conference championship qualifiers at the RMAC Indoor Meet in late February.

In the case of Salvucci, a sophomore from Argentina, she can now claim the student-athlete double of being both a First Team All-Academic selection and an RMAC champion, as she won the indoor women's triple jump event.

NSCA Honor
Chayton Bynes has earned no shortage of accolades this season – All-American, school record holder, conference champion, RMAC Indoor Field Athlete of the Year to name a few. 

He added another on Monday as he was announced as one of four CSC athletes across all sports to earn a Strength and Conditioning All-American honor from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Bynes joined football/track athlete William Stemler, football player Tanner True and men's wrestler Keegan Gehlhausen as honorees from Chadron State. 

STORY: Four Eagles Named NSCA All-Americans

The NSCA is a non-profit association dedicated to the strength and conditioning and sport science professions. They offer yearly awards at both the high school and college levels, based on nominations from school strength staffs.