DUBUQUE, Iowa (Duhawks.com) - The Loras Track & Field team shined under the lights Friday night at the Spartan Twilight as 27 men's and 26 women's personal records were broken. In their final meet before the Iowa Conference Championships, the Duhawks showed their growth during the outdoor season and proved that they're ready to compete next weekend.
Loras' women posted individual wins in the 200, 400, 100 hurdles, pole vault, and shot put.
The highlight of the night was sophomore
Elizabeth Brandenburg's performance in the pole vault. Six days after breaking the school record at the Dr. Tucker Loras Open, Brandenburg returned with a goal of raising the bar, literally. On her final attempt of the night, Brandenburg cleared 3.76m to move into sole possession of sixth place in the country entering the weekend, as well as resetting the school record.
Additionally, Brandenburg won the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.53, which was a personal record.
Sophomore
Alexis Hanson had a remarkable day on the track, setting a personal record in the 400 and winning both the 200 and 400. She was also part of the 4x100 and 4x400 team that each took second.
The final win for Loras came in the shot put where senior
Morgan Steere posted a distance of 12.83m.
On the men's side, Loras earned individual wins in the 100, 400, 800, 5k, pole vault, and javelin.
After running a qualifying time of 11.20 in the preliminaries, junior
Nick Ball cut .04 seconds off his time to win the 100 finals in 11.14. He also added a second place finish in the 200, posting a season's best time of 22.67.
Senior
Josh Goerdt continued his successful campaign with a win in the 400. A season best time of 47.79 gave Goerdt clearance over Taylor Pasterski of St. Norbert, who finished with a time of 48.59.
The Duhawks went 1-2-3-4 in the 800 with junior
Zach Frey leading the pack. After holding back for the first 400, Frey charged out from the back of the pack to storm his way to the front and earn the win. Finishing behind him was senior
Adam Varnas (1:57.67), freshman
Kylian Lally (1:58.26) and sophomore
Tim Wittman (1:58.98). For Varnas and Lally, their times were personal records.
Freshman
John Stoppelman was the lone runner in the 5k, but he didn't allow that to deter him from running a personal best time of 16:43.83.
Junior
Devan Kennedy cleared 4.45m in the pole vault to earn his first win since the 2015 IIAC Indoor Championships. The mark was .05m shy of his personal best.
A massive four-meter PR was the story in the javelin, as junior
Jake Brock took first with his throw of 52.24m. Before Friday, Brock's best was 48.2m, set last week at the Dr. Tucker Loras Open.
In the race of the night, the men's 4x400 relay benefited from a healthy dose of competition from St. Norbert's relay team. Coming into the night, the Green Knight's relay team was slightly faster than Loras', posting a season's best time of 3:16.05.
Friday was the stage for a neck-and-neck race, but in the end, Loras came out on top by .2 of a second, posting a time of 3:14.10. This time puts them at fifth-best in the country.
The Duhawks now turn their attention to the Iowa Conference Championships scheduled for May 8-9 in Indianola, Iowa, hosted by Simpson College. For Loras to claim a team championship, they'll need to build off of their successes on Friday and continue to push themselves to the next level.
Personal Records Set at Spartan Twilight
