SETH DRURY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
Head coach Marcus Newsom was a busy man as his Wartburg track and field team competed at two different meets on Saturday. A mixture of both the men and women went to the Iowa State Open where they had five top ten finishes. Other members of the track team traveled to Monmouth to compete in the Midwest Invitational where the Knights had two individual champions.
“I think we did a very good job at both places. We only took six men and 11 women to Iowa State. At Monmouth we only took the rest of the women sprinters, jumpers and throwers. Most of our distance athletes sat out, they are still trying to recover from cross country,” Newsom said.
At the Iowa State Open, Faith Burt ran away from the competition in the 60-meter dash winning with a time of 7.8 seconds. Nevada Morrison finished in 10th place in the 400-meter dash with a time of 58.85.
Jenny Kordick had top finishes in two events. She finished the 600-yard run in 1:28, which was good enough for 10th place. Kordick also helped the 4x400-meter relay team to a third place finish. Her teammates were Chelsey Jacobs, Faith Burt and Nevada Morrison.
Kelsey Steffens and Brittany Thomas were also top finishers for the Knights in Ames. Steffens placed sixth and Thomas finished 10th respectively in the 60-meter hurdles.
“There were Div. I, Div II, NAIA, and junior college schools there so I feel really good about how we competed at that level. That level of competition is good for us especially because we got most of our women into the finals. For us to be in the top 10 finishers with those schools at this point in the year, it’s just something I feel really good about,” Newsom said.
In Monmouth the Knights were once again led by the women who registered two first-place finishes. Anna Kraayenbrink ran a 10:18 in the 3000-meter run beating her closest competitor by 30 seconds.
The Knights were represented well in the 600-meter dash as Erika Menning ran away with a first-place title with a time of 1:41.
“The freshman ran very good overall. Erika Menning who won the 600-meter race ran it for the first time,” Newsom said.
While the Iowa State Open didn’t keep team scores, the Knights came home with two fourth-place team finishes.
“For our second week I think we ran really good and I feel really good about what we did. Obviously there’s room for improvement but I’m happy with the progress,” Newsom said.
This Saturday, Wartburg will host Augustana in a dual meet that kicks-off at 11 a.m.
“Everyone will be competing this weekend at home. Augustana has history of being a very good team and being a great competitor. So it’s very important to compete well against them, especially at home with everyone competing,” Newsom said.