Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney track & field team won seven events, and had 37 top five finishes, at the Concordia Invitational Friday afternoon in Seward.
Due to the weather, the meet was moved up one full day. The non-team scoring event also included Doane, Hastings, Nebraska Wesleyan and Midland Lutheran.
Also, senior Kelli Dring and sophomore Cameron Smith competed in the first annual CSU-Pueblo Invite Thursday and Friday in Colorado.
Adding their names to the national this week are Dring, Beatrice senior Chris Campbell (discus), Fairbury junior Dakota Cochrane (pole vault) and Fairbury sophomore Drew Onnen (discus). Cochrane won the pole vault by clearing 15-9 while Onnen (162-11) and Campbell (160-8) placed third and fourth in the discus.
In Pueblo, Dring (Kearney) won the long jump with a leap of 18-10.50. That should put her in the top five on the national list next week. And despite not running at 800 meters, Dring still finished second (3,889 points) to Smith (3,931 points) in the heptathlon.
Joining Cochrane in the winner's circle on the men's side at Concordia was Kansas junior Brandon Karlin in the javelin (170-1) and Ogallala sophomore Tanner Fruit at 5,000 meters (15:03.52).
Karlin also was third in the hammer (177-5) with Boelus freshman Nate Rogers runner up in the 400 hurdles (56.26). Finally, sophomores Scott Wenzl (46-2) and Clifford Bodie (45-1) placed third and fourth, respectively, in the triple jump.
On the women's side, Franklin junior Sam Murphy had another busy meet as she won the shot put (44-11), was runner up in the discus (143-8) and finished fourth in the hammer (155-6). Next, Sargent junior Tracie Chanady won the discus with a heave of 145-3 with Gothenburg junior Kiley Peterson coming in third place in the shot (42-0.50).
On the track, Imperial senior Michelle May was first at 800 meters (2:17.07) with Sidney sophomore Jessie Golden being the top finisher in the 100 hurdles (14.66). Also, Imperial freshman Erica Pirog was second at 400 hurdles (1:07.31) with Holdrege freshman Jena Isaacson fourth (1:08.19). Isaacson also placed fifth in the 100 hurdles (15.79).
Finally, freshmen Kylie Hauer (400 meters/1:01.41) and Sally Studley (100 meters/13.06) each placed third.
On April 11th, UNK will compete in the NU Invite in Lincoln.
