A long and arduous Iowa winter has proven the chance for improvement. 

Since December 3rd, Buena Vista’s Men’s and Women’s Track and Field teams have been hard at work during their indoor seasons. The Beavers are setting school records and smashing personal bests, whether they’re times, distances or throws. 

With the consistent improvement and national standouts among the pair of squads’ rosters, Head Coach Colt Slack is ecstatic for his team and their hard work. 

“I am very proud of our entire team and the work they put in daily. The ones in the Top-50 really deserve to be  where they are and I believe can continue to climb the national boards,” says Coach Slack. 

 In recent meets, BV began their February running on a familiar track in the Dennis Young Classic at home. After the final event, BV stood in 6th against some of the best competition in the region, alongside nine top seven finishes for the Beaver student-athletes. 

 Standouts on the day included Brittini Thomas running a 9.21 in the 60 meter hurdles for third, Becca Simpson’s 51’6.5” toss in the weight throw for the bronze medal, and Max Murphy’s third-place finish in the 60 meter hurdles as well. 

 Afterwards, both squads hit the road for a pair of meets in the USD Invite on February 7th/8th in Vermillion, South Dakota, and the Darren Young Classic on February 15th at Grinnell College. 

 Though the Men would take just 8th place in the latter meet, the Women would have another standout day and claim 5th out of nine teams. 

 For the Men’s side, Murphy took third-place once again in the Men’s 400 meter dash with a time of 51.31, as well as another bronze medal in the 50 meter hurdles. 

 Lane Jellison threw for 7th place in the Men’s shot put as well with a 13.43 meter effort. 

For the Women, the ladies’ Distance Medley squad composed of Freshmen Jadyn Forbes and Katara Jondle, alongside Sophomore Latrice Hodges and Senior Emily Hoesing claimed the gold medal in the meet with a final time of 13:17.78 to impress the crowd. 

 Forbes broke the first of two records on the day for the ladies as well; Forbes’ time of 5:27:03 in the one-mile run made BVU history on the day. Meanwhile, Emily Hoesing, yet again, took down the school 5k record which she already had broken multiple times. 

“Technical improvements and mental improvements have been the biggest progressions this season. It takes months of nit picking but finally some technical results are starting to take place,” adds Slack. 

In the same vein, Becca Simpson and the Beaver Women throwing team stood out yet again. Simpson would heave a 16.20 meter weight throw to break another school record and take the 36th best spot in all of Division 3.  

Simpson is also not the only Beaver to sit in the national standings for their performances. 

Men’s Sprinter Max Murphy sits tied for the 10th best time in the nation with a 60 meter hurdles time of 8.18 seconds. 

Brittney Thomas and Lane Jellison have also sat in the national top-50 for prolonged spells after their season of solid outings. Thomas’ 60 meter hurdles run of 9.21 seconds saw her stand at 44th in the nation just two weeks ago, but Jellison’s weight throw of 16.26 meter’s slotted the Junior in the 50 spot. 

Both teams will have one final chance to improve upon PR’s and break records at home in the NJCAA Regional Meet this coming Friday and Saturday.  

Hosting a multitude of Midwest/Iowa teams from both Division 3 and the NAIA level, the Beavers will look to repeat history from last year, where multiple school records and PR’s were broken in 2019’s annual meet. 

 “This weekend I am looking for personal bests. If we can accomplish that, we will put ourselves in a good spot heading into conference weekend. The more momentum we can build this weekend, the better,” says Slack. 

With their continued drive and determination, the Beavers set their  sights on high finishes to end their indoor season. 

 “The team believes we can accomplish greatness and are committed to achieving it. In practice, recovery, and in competition.” 

 The events will begin in BVU’s Lamberti Recreation Center in the afternoon on Friday, February 22nd, and will continue into the weekend.