Midland Athletics
Jeff Braun, Sports Information Director
CRETE – Competing against a mixture of just NAIA and NJCAA schools for the first time this season, Midland University excelled at the Fred Beile Invitational this past weekend. The Warriors saw three athletes win their events and several other reach the top ten.
Chase Andresen continued to have a strong indoor season in the pole vault. He cleared 15′ 9″ and placed 1st in a field of 30 vaulters. He currently has the eighth best mark this season in the NAIA and is second in the GPAC.
Also bringing home a first-place finish was Dylan Kucera in the shot put. He put for a season-best toss of 53′ 9.75″ and won men’s event that had 36 competitors. Dylan’s toss also moved him in to 2nd all-time in Midland program history. As the indoor season winds down, he ranks eleventh in the NAIA and fourth in the GPAC.
Nathan Houser put in double duty this past weekend. Not only did he win the men’s weight throw at the Beile Invite, he placed 5th in the event at the Husker Invitational. He had a toss of 66′ 3″ in Lincoln on Friday and then a toss of 64′ 4.5″ on Saturday in Crete. He is currently ranked third in the NAIA and is second in the GPAC with a season best of 66′ 8″.
The final top mark earned by Midland came from CJ Martinez in the 5,000m race. He ran an impressive 15:55.24 to defeat the field of 16 runners. His time was also the seventh fastest in program history. Currently he outside the top 50 nationally but ranks fifth in the GPAC.
“It was great to come home with four individual champions,” commented head coach Daniel Gerber. “Especially when you are competing against some of the best team in the NAIA. CJ started the day off with an exciting race in the 5,000 and the momentum seemed to continue throughout the day. We are continuing to have strong performances in the field events, and now we are getting some really good performances on the track as well.”
Other top ten performances from Saturday included:
- Vivian Sanchez (800m) – 4th – 2:26.83
- Paige Thelen (5000m) – 5th – 21:01.60
- Ally Muessel (5000m) – 7th – 21:13.82
- Reid Kirlin (Weight) – 4th – 55′ 8.5″
- Reid Kirlin (Shot Put) – 5th – 48′ 11.5″
- Cortland Cassidy (5000m) – 5th – 16:33.40
- Lucas Weyrich (60m Hurdles) – 8th – 8.68
- Alex France (5000m) – 9th – 16:45.55
- Daniel Olson (1 Mile) – 9th – 4:37.19
- Ty Hansen (1000m) – 10th – 2:41.95
Midland will look to improve upon their times and marks this upcoming weekend as they compete in the Concordia Indoor Invitational in Seward, Nebraska. The one day meet will be the final tune-up before the GPAC Indoor Championships on February 15-16, also in Seward.