Contact: Emily Adlfinger, Director of Athletic Communications, 563-588-7970

May 15, 2021 – Scoring 11 All-Conference honors along with four individual titles and two school records, the No. 11-ranked Loras College men's track and field team finished third at the 2021 American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Outdoor Track and Field Championship on Saturday, hosted by the University of Dubuque.

Ryan Rogers collected the first conference title for Loras as he won the long jump with a leap of 7.39 meters, good for third all-time and in Division III, and went on to finish as the runner-up in the 110-meter hurdles, tying the school record time of 14.73 and ranks 17th in Division III, and defend his crown in the pole vault, clearing 4.70 meters to tie with current coach Hunter Dunlap '18 for third all-time. The 4-by-800-meter relay of Wyatt Kelly, Chris Guise, Ryan Harvey and Mike Jasa put on a display in the final event on Friday, winning the race in 7:35.62 to set a new school and conference record. The Duhawks were able to set themselves up in a good position heading into Saturday's action with preliminary rounds as Josh Smith ran the fourth-best time in program history in the 200-meter dash prelims (21.54) and Loras qualified Shamari Scott, Carter Oberfoell and Jake Willkomm in the 400-meter dash. Smith would take runner-up in the 200 in the finals on Saturday with a time of 21.81 and all three Duhawks scored in the 400-meter dash with Scott earning All-Conference honors in second place, running a season-best 49.06 and Oberfoell placing fourth (49.40) and Willkomm sixth (49.77) in his first conference championship. Scott also added a second-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles (53.42) and sits tenth in Division III and freshman Ted Kruse helped with the Duhawks' scoring, finishing fourth with a season-best time of 54.60.

Jasa and Kelly both advanced to the 800-meter finals where Jasa defended his title with a championship record of 1:50.59, just over half a second off his school record and national-leading mark. Kelly scored for the Duhawks in fifth, running 1:53.68. Loras' relays continued to showcase their strengths as the 4-by-100-meter team of De'Andre Klein, Dayvion Foreman, Willkomm and Smith finished second with a time of 41.62, improving on their mark for third all-time and sit 13th nationally. The 4-by-400-meter relay of Conor Otting, Kruse, Willkomm and Jasa also finished second with a time of 3:18.31 to collect All-Conference nods.

Loras got help in the points department with Derik Bunten (13.12 meters) and Doyle Carroll adding sixth and seventh place finishes in the triple jump, respectively, and Zac Couture finished sixth in the shot put with a season-best throw of 13.67 meters. Neal Eckhoff added a personal best in the hammer throw for sixth place (49.67 meters) and Holden Murphy scored a personal best in the javelin (44.24 meters) to place eighth and placed sixth in the discus (45.03 meters). Harvey finished seventh in his first 1,500-meter conference championship race (3:55.54) and Joey Schultz added a sixth-place finish in the 10,000-meter run (31:57.05) while an eighth-place finish for Alex Martens in the high jump (1.91 meters) added points for Loras.

Wartburg College won the team championship with 247 points followed by the hosts, Dubuque, with 148. The Duhawks posted 139.5 points for third.

The Duhawks will have one more chance to score national qualifying marks before the NCAA Division III National Championship, traveling to Augustana College on May 20 for last-chance meets.