Shelby Bradley | Sports Co-Editor
The Buena Vista University (BVU) men and women’s track and field teams wrapped up their indoor season at the Iowa Conference Championships at Wartburg College on February 27 and 28.
The Beavers had several close top three finishes between the men and women’s teams combined, but sadly only two events made it to the podium. The men’s 4×400 relay team consisting of senior Seth Woodson, junior Austin Groth, sophomore Justin Sacker and freshman Brennan Dostal took second with a season best time of 3:22.83.
Senior, Seth Woodson, not only took gold in the 800 meter run but broke the BVU record held by Jeff Brennan time of 1:53.73 set in 2001, and the IIAC Championship record held by Daniel Bonthius of Wartburg College time of 1:54.65, set in 2011; Woodson’s time was 1:53.24.
“Now that there has been some time for me to take all of it in I am happy that I did it, but that is not enough for me. I want to get down to that national meet and become an All-American,” Woodson said.
Head Coach Ryan Schroeder has high regards for his senior mid-distance runner, and his performances are noted to be very valuable to the program.
“It seems like every time [Seth] steps on the track these past couple of weeks you just want to stop what you’re doing and just watch because you know something special might happen,” Schroeder said.
The men’s team also had a close finish from senior Nolan Sampson who placed fifth in the high jump. The team finished seventh overall just 12 points behind Luther who placed sixth. Central college and Wartburg came in at a tie of 176 points for the men’s IIAC Championship title.
“I know that just by looking at the team results it looks like we didn’t do very well; however, we had over 20 indoor and/or lifetime bests this past weekend, and that is something to really be proud of,” Schroeder said.
As for the women’s side of things, senior Laura Eberly just narrowly missed a third place finish in the 200 meter dash by .10 seconds running a personal best time of 26.35 seconds and placing fourth.
The women’s 4×200 meter relay team consisting of seniors Casey James, Katie Larsen, Maggie Marker and Laura Eberly also narrowly missed third place by .05 seconds. Their time was also only .06 seconds from breaking the BVU school record set in 2013. The relay team entered the meet with the fastest qualifying time of 1:46.61 and turned in a season-best time of 1:45.66 after the race.
“Going into the meet, all four of us were very nervous, excited, and anxious at the same time. We all knew it was our last indoor conference championship and that we just had to go and compete and give it our all,” Marker said.
Another high placing for the women’s team included a fifth place finish by Molly Hutchins in the weight throw. She had a throw of 14.65 meters, which surpassed her previous best of 14.48.
The women’s team finished eighth overall while Wartburg College took the IIAC Championship title.
Both teams are looking forward to the outdoor season beginning on April 2 in a meet hosted by Wartburg, as well as the outdoor conference championships to attempt redemption of getting on that podium.
