Buena Vista University (BVU) opened their Outdoor season by hosting the annual BVU Invite on March 31 and April 1. BVU Head Track and Field Coach, Colton Slack, said the Indoor to Outdoor season transition has been going smoothly.

“For the first outdoor meet of the season, I just wanted to see the team compete hard and support one another,” Coach Slack said.

The BVU Men’s Track and Field team started the Outdoor season on a strong note. Starting with field events, sophomore Drew Beall took second in the shot put and fifth in the discus. Sophomore Chase Bonner took third in the shot put and second in the hammer throw. Rounding out field events, senior Kyle Wessling took second in the javelin with a personal best.

On the running side of the meet, junior Brennan Dostal took fourth in the 100-m dash and third in the 200-m dash with a personal best of 22.52s. Nikolas Polite took sixth in the 100-m dash.

The Women’s Track and Field team also opened their Outdoor season with several top finishes. Beginning with field events, sophomore Victoria Leffler came in first in the high-jump while sophomore Brooke Runneburg came in fourth. Freshman Destine Butturf placed fourth with a personal best of 4.98m in the long jump.

In the running events, the 4×100 relay team placed fourth and the 4×400 team placed fifth. Senior Mallory Spear took second in the 200-m dash, while senior Madison Speak took second in both the 100 and 400-m hurdles.

Wessling was impressed with how the team preformed as a whole, as well as several individual preformances.

“We had both sprinters and throwers set personal records, which is just a glimpse of the potential the outdoor season can have,” Wessling said,

The Beavers totaled 62 points for a fourth place finish overall out of seven competing schools.

While Slack was happy about the Beaver’s performances in the first outdoor meet, he expects to continue to see great strides by the team.

“Moving forward, I just want to see consistent improvement,” Coach Slack said, “#BetterThanYesterday is our motto, and we are going to do just that!”

Wessling agrees with Coach Slack that the improvement each week will be important this Outdoor season.

“Consistently getting a little better every meet really helps to build confidence every week, all leading up to the conference meet,” Wessling said.

BVU will continue their Outdoor season next Saturday, April 8, at the Dordt College Open in Sioux Center, IA.