PELLA, Iowa (Duhawks.com) – The Duhawks last meet before Easter provided a glimpse into the potential of both the men and women this season. The women placed third out of nine teams and the men finished first at the Central Invitational hosted by Central College at Schipper Stadium.


Individual winners for the women included junior Bri Cook, who ran 19:09.79 in the women's 5k, sophomore Emily Day, who was the lone competitor in the 3k Steeplechase and ran a time of 12:15.49. Sophomore Amy Gladis won the pole vault with a height of 3.35m.

On the men's side, junior Zach Frey continued his excellent campaign, winning another 800m with a time of 1:56.51. Freshman Mason Tope was the men's other solo victor, winning the 5k with a time of 15:15.13.

Top three performances for the women were turned in by junior Bree Powers who ran 26.53 in the 200m dash, finishing in third. Freshman Emily Ney finished in third place in the 400m dash with a time of 1:02.72. In the throws, senior Morgan Steere placed second in the shot put, throwing a distance of 13.04m.

The men had their fair share of top three performances as well which came from junior Stedman Foster in the 400m dash in which he ran 48.91 to finish in second. Foster's time was more than a full second better than what he ran last weekend at the Knox Open. His previous PR came in 2013, when he ran 49.79 at the Iowa Conference Championships.

Behind Frey in the 800m, sophomore Tim Wittman and junior Sam Whan finished second and third. Wittman's time of 1:58.54 was just a hair slower than his mark from a week ago, while Whan's time of 2:00.00 was nearly five seconds behind his previous personal best.

The Duhawks went 1-2-3 in the men's 5k with senior Steve Loran taking second with a mark of 15:15.33 and freshman Justin Adams finishing in third with a time of 15:35.84.

Senior Adam Varnas took third in the 3k Steeplechase (10:26.84) and junior Keontae Neely finished in third with a distance of 6.41m in the long jump. Varnas' time is the best mark for him this season, but nearly 16 seconds off his personal best from 2012. For Neely, he improved from his mark a week ago, but will be chasing his previous best of 6.77m from the 2014 indoor season.
The Loras throwers had plenty to celebrate, as senior Jordan Burkholder, senior Nathan Maiers, and junior Evan Rossing all posted top-three finishes.

In the discus, Burkholder added .07m to his mark from a week ago, finishing in third place with 44.55m. In the hammer throw, Maiers' mark of 45.49m was good for third place, but down from 48.97m a week ago.

In the final event of the day, Rossing finished second in the javelin throw with a distance of 49.26m.

Impressive performances were turned in all around, but the men's and women's 4x100 and 4x400 relays simply dominated on Saturday. The women's 4x100 was run in 49.85 by Powers, freshman Alyssa Simon, and sophomores Alexis Hanson and Elizabeth Brandenburg. The women's 4x400 consisted of Powers, Hanson, Ney, and senior Mercedez Kennedy who ran 4:03.64.
The men's 4x100 ran 42.52 and included Foster, sophomore Brandon Gradoville, and seniors Zac Gassman and Kyle Ward. The men's 4x400 ran 3:16.22 and was made up of Foster, Gradoville, Gassman, and senior Josh Goerdt.

Loras' time in the 4x400 puts them in eighth all-time in Loras history and is currently second in the NCAA Division III.

The Duhawks will take rest over the holiday weekend before coming back early next week to prepare for the UW-Platteville Invite. As always, the Invite is known to have some of the strongest competition, which provides an opportunity for Loras to truly gauge their performances against their competition.