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

WAVERLY, Iowa (Arp. 1, 2022) – The Loras College men's track and field team did not miss a beat during its two-week break from the indoor season to the start of the outdoor schedule as the Duhawks finished first out of ten teams with multiple nationally-ranked performances at the season-opener Wartburg College Select Meet on Friday.

Ryan Rogers continued his strong showing to open the outdoor season, winning the 110-meter hurdles in 14.91 seconds, good for eighth in Division III this season, and the pole vault, clearing 4.50 meters. Ted Kruse won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.15, ranking ninth in the nation. Chris Guise led a 1-2 finish for Loras in the 800-meter run, winning the race in 1:58.34 with Joe Franke finishing second in 1:59.25. Josh Smith finished third in the 100-meter dash, running 10.86 and Ryan Harvey was the runner-up in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:53.70. Joey Schultz scored a second-place finish in the 5,000-meter run to open his final outdoor campaign, running 14:50.67.

In the field events, Neal Eckhoff placed third in the hammer throw, tossing 48.71 meters, and Holden Murphy finished second in the discus, throwing 48.08 meters and improving on his sixth-best mark in program history and seventh in Division III this season. Matt Bandy cleared 1.90 meters in the high jump to finish second and Raymond Venditti finished second behind Rogers' in the pole vault, clearing 4.35 meters.

Both Loras' "A" and B relays finished top-three in the 4-by-100-meter relay with the "A" squad of Doyle Carroll, De'Andre Klein, Derik Bunten and Smith running 41.93 to take first and rank tenth nationally and Frank Day, Nate Sielaff, Elijah Thomas and Venditti took third, running 43.59. The 4-by-400-meter relay of Carter Oberfoell, Kruse, Sielaff and Harvey took second, running 3:22.77 which sits 13th nationally.

The Duhawks won the meet with 187 points, topping the host Knights in second with 151. Central College finished third with 100 points.

Mike Jasa will close out the weekend for the Duhawks at the Stanford University Invitational on Saturday, Apr. 2 in the 800-meter run and the team returns to action at the University of Dubuque on Friday, Apr. 8 for a close-to-home meet.