After a long season of improvements, Head Coach of the BVU Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Teams Colton Slack and his squads finished the year on the big stage. 

The American Rivers Conference Championships in Cedar Rapids hosted the nine conference schools who would battle for the final trophy of the season. 

In the end, Buena Vista would take seventh for both Women and Men’s teams. Consistent improvement across the board headlined the meet. 

“The entire team impressed me by their efforts and their never give up attitudes. We had lifetime best performances all over the place meet after meet. The team really came together and rallied around one another,” says Slack. 

Here’s how the weekend went down in Cedar Rapids. 

Friday: 

With multiple finishes in the middle of the pack, the Women’s Track and Field team just barely missed out on top marks in multiple events across the board. 

Beginning the two day meet in style, multiple school long distance event record holder Emily Hoesing began the day on the front foot for the Beavers in the 10,000–meter run.  

Finishing just two seconds behind the fourth–place runner and half a minute behind an All-Conference spot, Hoesing would cross the finish line fifth in the ARC, with a final time of 38:56:25. However, it would be a personal best on the season for the Junior. 

Following up on Hoesing, a number of personal records continued to be beat by the Women’s squad in many events. 

The team’s hurdler, sophomore Brittini Thomas, qualified for the finals on Saturday as she finished fourth in the 100–meter hurdles with a time of 15:11, and seventh in the 400–meter hurdles crossing the finish line at 1:05:87. Both were career bests. 

The young sprinter core for the Beavers also had a solid day all around. Kylie Johnston just barely missed on out making it to Saturday, a second behind the qualifying time, and the 4X800 relay team finished sixth in just under ten minutes. 

Wren Klump would also take third place in the Women’s Heptathlon 800 meter dash event. Abby Olberding jumped the farthest with a 15th place finish in the long jump. 

The young throwers for the Buena Vista ladies would end the day with the middle of the pack numbers as well; Michaela Karels took 14th in the hammer throw and 12th in the Javelin. 

Highlights for the Men’s team from Friday include star performances from the throwers. Grabbing all 21 points on the day for the Men in their two events, the hammer throw and the shot put, one even earned an All-Conference accolade. 

Bonner, with a career–long heave of the shot put, threw 51-09.75 to finish second in the American Rivers Conference. He also claimed seventh in the hammer throw. 

Behind him, senior Drew Beall threw well in his final outing as a Beaver en route to a seventh–place finish in the shot put, and grabbing fifth in the hammer throw. Shelmund Mercalina would finish in fourth as well in the hammer throwing (50.91 meters), wrapping up a tidy day in the field for the trio. 

The Men’s sprinters would be highlighted by Casey Lamle, with a 19th place finish in the 400–meter dash (51.84), and Max Powers, who claimed 18th in the 400–meter hurdles (1:05:34). 

School triple jump record holder Cory Kitt would take 9th in the event with a leap of 12.72 meters. Kitt also finished 19th in the long jump at 5.91 meters 

At the end of day one, the Men would sit in seventh place above Coe and Luther with 21 points. Meanwhile, the Women finished Friday in eighth, seven points above Simpson. 

Saturday: 

Resuming events at 10:00 in the morning in the field, Saturday continued to highlight improvement across the board for the Beavers. 

Thomas continued with more of the same speed in the 100–meter hurdles on the day, crossing the finish line fourth in the finals. Thomas would also take eighth in the 400–meter hurdles. 

On the same note, the ever impressive Hoesing shattered the old school 5k record with a final time of 18:08:17. Her time found her in the 6th place spot in the ARC as well at the end of the race. 

The 4X100 teams for both the Men and Women finished 6th and 7th respectively, and PR’s across the board for the two team’s sprinters wrapped up Saturday nicely for Buena Vista. 

Men’s long distance runner Greg Tystahl would also shave over a minute off of his previous 5,000 meters run time, claiming 20th place with a finish time of 15:50:23. 

Already with one All-Conference selection for the Men’s throwing team carrying over into Saturday, Beall finished his senior year with the heave of his career to claim second in the discus as well. Beall’s throw landed at 153-06. 

With the weekend wrapping up, the Men’s team found themselves with a 7th place finish and 33 points above Coe and Luther. The Women’s squad would take 7th as well with 20 points above Coe and Simpson. 

Culture has been a big focus for Coach Slack and the squads heading into the end of the year, and with the chemistry at an all-time high, the positives just added up for BV. 

“The culture of this team is at an all-time high and they are willing to go to war for each other. I am just overall very proud of the way the team worked this year and fought every weekend,” says Slack. 

Saying goodbye to seven seniors now that the season, and their careers, have drawn to a close, Coach Slack reminisces on the growth he’s seen from the graduating seven. Drew Beall, Chase Bonner, Sheulmund Marcelina, Tara Harris, Jessica Igarashi, Allyson Ervin, Katie Puls all end their careers as Beavers with the conclusion of this season. 

“The seniors are going to be missed tremendously. This senior class is bittersweet for me as I started my first year as a coach with them. I have seen them all grow up and mature throughout the years and accomplish some incredible things,” says Slack. “They are not only great athletes but they are also all around good people and it makes my job fun coming to work every day and spending time with them. I have learned just as much from them as they have from me and I appreciate each person for that.” 

Emily Hoesing would also go on to win the Female Student-athlete of the Year award this past Monday at the annual BVU All-Athletics Sports Ceremony, alongside Cory Kitt as the Male Newcomer of the Year.