Men’s Distance Runners Dominate Again; Wichita State & West Texas Trip Next Weekend
Kearney, Neb. - The Nebraska Kearney track and field team won 13 events (four women and nine men) at the annual Central Nebraska Challenge Saturday at Kearney High School. The large non-team scoring meet lasted 10 hours and brought in NCAA Division I and II schools, as well as NAIA programs. The Loper women to take Gold were Nicole Messbarger (400 and anchor for the 4x4 relay), Lily Novacek (hammer/invite) and Slayten Braun (100 meters). Joining Messbarger (Kearney) on the relay team were Kyla Carlson (Aurora), Abby Rose (Lindsborg, Kan.) and Hannah Anderson (Gothenburg). UNK's men's distance crew had quite the afternoon and evening as it won the 800 (Wes Ferguson), 1,500 (Luke Stuckey), 5,000 (Myles Bach) and steeplechase (Ben Arens). Next, the 4x4 relay team with Ferguson (Fremont) as the anchor led the way with Jack Drahota (400 hurdles) the final winner on the track. In the field, Brayden Sorensen (high jump), Alex Goracke (discus/invite) and Rylan Basart (javelin/invite) were the first-place finishers. Ferguson almost broke his own school mark in the 800 (1:47.80) as he turned in a 1:47.87 to win by almost three seconds. The 4x4 relay managed a 3:16.22 with Micah Swedberg (Wallace), Conner Wells (St. Paul) and Drahota (Ravenna) running in front of Ferguson. Drahota took the 400 hurdles in 55.24 with Lane Bertrand (Axtell) right behind him thanks to a 55.65. Next, Stuckey (3:47.67) was one of five Lopers in the 1,500 top 15 and took the race by six seconds. Third-place finisher Payton Davis (David City) had a career-best 3:53.24 to move up to ninth on the all-time list. Finally on the track for the men, Bach (Cedar Rapids, Ia.) took the 5,000 by over 30 seconds as he ran a 14:41.73 with Arens (Ainsworth) running a 9:02.36 to take the steeple by 19 seconds. Braun (Norton, Kan.) ran a 12.27 in the women's 100, Messbarger had a career-best 56.19 in the 400 with Carlson having a career-best 1:03.49 to be second in the 400 hurdles. Both efforts rank sixth in school history. The relay team capped things with a 3:52.18. Novacek (Kearney) had a toss of 148-3 to win the discus/invite title with Holdredge sophomore Samantha Schemper clearing 11-7.75 in the pole vault to finish second and move into seventh place on the all-time list. Gabrielle Oborny (David City) also reached that height to come in third. The men saw Sorensen (Kearney) go 6-11.50 to win the high jump, Goracke (Giltner) have a toss of 158-7 to take the discus/invite title with Basart (Stockton, Kan.) having a heave of 194-1 in the jav/invite competition. Finally, Goracke also was second in the shot put/invite (56-0) and third in the hammer/invite (189-11). The Blue & Gold splits up next weekend with some of the team headed to Canyon, Texas, for the annual Jo Meaker Classic with the rest of the Lopers a few hours North in Wichita for the K.T. Woodman Classic.
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