Senior Charity Miles and freshman Dawn Gildersleeve led the Raider track and field teams with individual championships and records at the GPAC Indoor Championships held last Saturday in Lincoln, Neb. Miles won two individual championships and set meet records in both her events, while Gildersleeve set a school record and won an individual championship. Out of 12 teams, the Lady Raiders finished in sixth place totaling 52 points. The men placed seventh of 12 teams with 37 points.
In the 3000-meter, Miles finished first and set the new meet and school record with a time of 10 minutes, 5.69 seconds, which was nearly eight seconds faster than the second place runner. Senior Sara Hess finished sixth in the 3000-meter, earning all-conference honors with a time of 10:23.42. Miles also later won the 5000-meter race, setting the school and meet record with a time of 17:23.02.
With less than a one second margin against Breanna Mathes of Morningside College, Gildersleeve captured the GPAC Championship in the 1000-meter, setting a school record of 2:57.87. In the 60-meter, freshman Aubrey Lindgren set the school record with a time 8.2 seconds and a 14th-place finish. Among the other women, the Raiders had 7 other top finishes.
For the men, sprinters sophomore Brandon Hammack and freshman Jeriah Dunk took the lead for the men’s team with a pair of all-conference performances. Hammack finished sixth in the 200-meter with a time of 22.32 seconds and also placed seventh in the 60-meter with a time of 7.03 seconds. Dunk set school records and placed in both events, finishing fourth in the 60-meter (6.93 seconds) and fifth in the 200-meter (22.29 seconds). Freshman Kyle Heidebrink also earned all-conference honors in the 60-meter hurdles, placing fifth with a time of 8.56 seconds.
In the field events, sophomore Matt Huseman finished second in the high jump, clearing 6-08.25. Sophomore thrower Kiley Murra finished fifth in the shot put with a toss of 51-00.75. In the heptathlon, freshman Taylor Bodin placed eighth, totaling 4,016 points. Other top men’s finishers who earned all-conference honors were freshman Austin King (600-meter) and junior Mark Mineart (high jump) and the 4×400 team (Hammack, King, Dunk and Heidebrink).
The NAIA Indoor National Championships are to be held Thursday, March 3 in Geneva, Ohio. Qualifying for this meet are Miles, Gildersleeve, Hess, Huseman and Murra, along with junior Dani Fry, senior Kara Den Herder and junior Stacey Dietrich.