The Northwestern track and field team put forth a very strong showing last weekend at the SDSU Indoor Classic in Brookings, S.D.
Many athletes contributed strong individual performances to help the Raiders qualify in nine new events on Friday and Saturday.
The team was led by junior Katie Landhuis, who competed in the 800 m and the distance medley relays.
Landhuis set a new school record (2:14) in the 800 and placed first out of NAIA competitors (seventh overall). Finishing half a second behind her was fellow junior Katie Bosch. Both runners hit the auto mark to qualify for nationals with their times.
The Raiders continued their strong performances with three relays and more individual runners qualifying for nationals.
“The meet started off on a high note on Friday with both the men’s and the women’s DMRs (Distance Medley Relays) hitting the auto mark and the momentum just seemed to carry throughout the whole meet,” Landhuis said. “A lot of Raiders saw PRs in their events, and it seems, just fed off of each others’ accomplishments, continuing all the way through to the 4x4s on Saturday night, in which our men were able hit the auto as well.”
Landhuis was awarded the GPAC Women’s track athlete of the week for her performance over the weekend.
“I can’t take much credit for it,” Landhuis said. “I have wonderful coaches and teammates who push me and challenge me and deserve it just as much as I do.”
Other runners who qualified for nationals include sophomore Peter Hollinger and juniors Aaron Lemon, Tanner Goetsch and Tim Rose.
Lemon qualified in the 600m with a time of 1:20.27, Hollinger qualified in the 800m with a time of 1:53.44, and Rose and Goetsch each qualified in the mile with times of 4:16 and 4:19, respectively.
On top of that, three Raider relays also qualified.
The men’s 4×400 finished first out of all NAIA teams at the meet with a time of 3:19. Both the men’s and women’s distance medley relays qualified: the men with a time of 10:19 and the women with a time of 12:11.
NW will next be competing tomorrow when they head to Sioux Center for the GPAC indoor track championships, which will be the runners’ last chance to qualify for nationals.
