Emily Leighton | Staff Writer
On April 22nd through the 26th, a few of the Buena Vista University (BVU) track members made the trip to participate in the Drake Relays. While only a few competed, there was one that made a huge impact at the meet. Senior Seth Woodson came back with a broken record. The record he broke was one that he set himself back in 2013. Woodson crossed the finish line of the 800 meter run he participated in with a time of 1:51.29.
Woodson is in his last track season here with the Beavers, but he isn’t finished competing yet. After breaking this record, Woodson climbed his way up to 7th in the Division III rankings. Woodson has competed in the relays every year while at BVU.
“My emotions while being there this year was to go out with a bang. I wanted to be able to qualify for nationals in the 800, and that is what I did. I wanted my last performance there to be my best performance at that stadium, and it was. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to go out, but it is definitely hard knowing that I won’t be competing there again next year,” Woodson said.
Coach Ryan Schroeder is very proud of all the individuals that participated this year.
“I’m really proud of our athletes that competed at the Drake Relays. The weather Friday and Saturday was less than ideal, but they went out and competed. It was great to see our 4×100 meter relay girls start to take form, and I’m excited for the next couple of weeks with them. Of course, Seth Woodson ran really well finishing 6th in the 800 with a field loaded with D1 runners. He broke the school record and is sitting 7th on the D3 qualifying list for Nationals. I was really impressed with how he ran especially because it was his first 800 this outdoor season. I can’t wait to see how fast he runs in a couple of weeks,” Schroeder said.
Maggie Marker, another BVU senior, also participated in the Relays. This was Marker’s fourth year participating in the relays.
“As for this year and being a senior, I definitely had mixed feelings. I was happy to look at back all my years of getting to run at the Drake Relays. I ran at the relays all four years of high school as well as all four years while being here at Buena Vista University. Yet, it was sad to think that it was going to be my last time running there. But I couldn’t be any happier with just getting the opportunity to run on that track because not everyone gets that chance,” Marker said.
With Woodson and Marker both making the relays all four years while being Beavers, they have made a lot of accomplishments everyone should be extremely proud of.
“I would say that my best accomplishment at Drake would be making it individually in the unseeded 800 the last two years. This year was my best performance, though, as I qualified for nationals on Thursday at Drake,” Woodson said.
“My biggest accomplishment during these four years of running down there would be my sophomore year when we got 4th place overall in the Women’s 4×200 meter relay college division with a time of 1:42.04,” Marker said.
Coach Schroeder is looking forward to what is going to happen next year when they compete at the Drake Relays, but for now, he has set his sights on the upcoming invite.
“It’s tough to think that far ahead especially with our outdoor conference meet coming up in two weeks. We lose some fast seniors after this year, but I’m hopeful that our younger athletes and newcomers for next year can continue to get better, and we can get some athletes qualified for next year,” Schroeder said.
The Beavers will be back in action at the Grinnell College Invite on Saturday, May 2 before gearing up for the Iowa Conference Championships just a week later.
Photo courtesy of Heather Nyren
