The Red Raider track and field team made their season debut at the Dordt Open last Saturday and walked away with a pair of first place finishes and seven national qualifying marks.
Senior Karen Ettleman leaped her way to a first place finish at the meet and an NAIA automatic mark with a long jump of 5.74 meters. Not only did this mark break the school record, but it also places her number one in the event in the nation. Ettleman also broke the school record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.30 seconds, which broke Pat Kruger’s old record that has stood since 1983. She also met the auto mark in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.85.
Senior Skyler Giddings was the second athlete to meet the national automatic mark of the meet. Giddings placed second overall at the meet in the 1000-meter with a school-record time of 2:30. Junior Kyle Anderson was close behind his teammate and finished third with a time of 2:32, which meets the national provisional mark.
Freshman Hans Epp finished in the top spot in his event after completing the mile with a time of 4:31. Junior Lauren Spranger left the meet with three second place finishes in the 200-meter, the 400-meter and the 4×400-meter. Her time in the 400-meter provisionally qualified her for the event and she now sits fourth overall in the GPAC. Freshman Katie Landhuis crossed the finish line second at the meet with a time of 2:19, which met the national provisional mark in the event.
There were six other top-three finishes at the meet as well. On the women’s side, senior Megan Walhof in the 600-meter and the 4×400 team of Landhuis, Walhof, Spranger and junior Sarah Wedel both walked away as the runners-up in their events. For the men, freshman Tim Rose finished third in the mile while sophomore Will Norris placed third in the 3000-meter. Senior Jordan Strofaci was the runner-up in the long jump, while the men’s 4×400-meter team of senior Scott Strand, junior Elliott Johnson, freshman Levi TeBrink and Anderson topped off the meet with a third place finish.
The Raiders will head to Waverly, Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 24, to compete in the Wartburg Invite. The meet will begin at 10:30 a.m.
