Lopers Have Strong Field Day at KHS, Arens Breaks 27-Year Old Standard
Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney track and field team won 16 events (seven women and nine mine) at the Loper Invitational and four men ran well at the Bryan Clay Invitational this weekend in Kearney and California. Joining UNK at Kearney High on Saturday were student-athletes from Hastings, Fort Hays, South Dakota Mines, Sioux Falls, Minnesota State and Dodge City C.C. The top event for the Lopers was the women's hammer/invite as Kearney redshirt freshman Lily Novacek won (career-best 185-0) with McCook junior Mackenzie Smith the runner up (career-best 176-9). Novacek moves up a spot to fifth on the all-time list with Smith up a single spot as well (seventh). Novacek then was runner up in the discus/invite (159-6).
On an overcast, cold and windy day, the pole vault and high jump were moved indoors to Cushing Coliseum. Freshman Brianna Russell (Stamford) cleared a career-best 5-7.25 to win with senior Brayden Sorensen (Kearney) going 6-11 to place first as well. Russell now ranks seventh in Loper lore with David City sophomore Gabrielle Oborny taking the vault with a height (12-3.25) just shy of her own school-record (12-5.50). On the men's side, Giltner junior Alex Goracke won the hammer/invite (career-best 195-11), was runner up in the shot/invite (53-11.75) and third in the discus/invite (166-7). His toss in the hammer keeps him second on the all-time list. In the javelin, Kansas true freshmen Rylan Basart (198-0) and Kenyon Forest (192-5) placed first and second, respectively. Forest (sixth) joins Basart on the all-time jave list as well. Finally at KHS/Cushing, Creighton junior Alex Homan won the vault (season-best 15-9.75), Wallace junior Micah Swedberg led the way in the 200 (21.78), Kearney junior Nicole Messbarger was first in the women's 200 (25.09) and Kearney grad student Haley Schall was first in the 100 (12.66) and third in the 200. The Bryan Clay, held at Azusa Pacific, brings together top runners from around the country. The fields in each event are large with action taking place from sup up to sundown. On Thursday night, Ainsworth junior Ben Arens broke a 27-year-old school-mark in the steeple by running an 8:47.15. Finishing ninth out of 133, Arens bested the mark set by Loper Hall of Fame Ivan Ivanov at the 1996 NCAA D2 Championships (8:51.52). Finally, Arens time currently ranks third in D2. Next, Fremont junior Wes Ferguson easily surpassed his own school-record in the 800/invite (1:47.80) by running a 1:46.95 on Friday. He placed fourth out of 140 with the winner being 2023 D2 800 indoor champ Oussama El Bouchaby from Angelo State, Texas (1:45.88). On Saturday, Ferguson ran a career-best 3:48.85 in the 1,500. That places him fourth on the all-time list with Arens (3:50.07) and David City sophomore Payton Davis (3:50.70) right behind in fifth and sixth. These times allowed the trio to finish 40th, 67th and 87th in a field of 190. Finally, McCool junior Luke Stuckey was close to career-best times in both the 800 and 1,500. He was sixth out of 141 in the 800/open (1:51.40) and 77th out of 165 in the 1,500/invite (3:44.76). Stuckey holds UNK's 1,500 record (3:44.24) and ranks seventh in the 800 (1:51.01). The Lopers head to Crete next Friday for the annual Jim Dutcher Memorial.
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