National Qualifiers and school records highlight first meet for Pride men

DAVENPORT, Iowa - Entering 2022-23 with a raised set of standards, the Clarke University men's track and field delivered on a lot of those expectations at the Finals Week Invite and Multi this Friday and Saturday.

The Pride had five different individuals hit standards for the NAIA Championships in their first outing of the season led by the Heptathlon performances of Brody Deitering and James Vandun, who both hit the A Standard as Deitering earned a second place finish with school record a point total of 4337 with Vandun finishing as the third place attached competitor in the Heptathlon at 4205. Vandun was still able to qualify for the NAIA Indoor Championships even with a no-height in the pole vault in opening attempts to clear 3.65 meters as his score would have been raised by at least 500 points if he had cleared, which would have earned him a win in the event.

Deitering and Vandun were able to set school records in individual events during the Heptathlon as Deitering set a school record, at the time, in the 60-meter dash of 7.11 seconds and Vandun hit a school record in the long jump of 6.67 meters.

The highlight of the meet for the Pride men, may very well have been Tyler Kell's performance in the high jump as the Clyde, N.Y. native won the even with a school record and NAIA B Standard height of 2.02 meters as he cleared the bar at 2.02 in his final jump attempt before extending to 2.04 and just missing out on the A Standard in his three attempts.

That 60-meter dash record for Deitering was short-lived as fellow freshmen Camden Foesch and Gavayne Smith both eclipsed that time in qualifying heats with both earning spots in the final as Foesch ran a 7.09 and Smith broke the seven-second barrier for the first time in school history at 6.94 second. In the finals Foesch was just short of his qualifying time as he went 7.11 and Smith improved to break the school record again at 6.92, just .01 seconds away from hitting an NAIA B Standard.

River Alvarado, Kain Sourbeer, and Josh Musonda also debuted in the 60-meter dash with Alvarado running a 7.39, Sourbeer finishing at 7.49, and Musonda finishing at 7.71. Foesch, Musonda, Alvarado, and Sourbeer also ran the 200-meter dash for CU to a 12th place finish for Foesch at 23.56 as Musonda, Alvarado, and Sourbeer finishing at 24.09, 24.33, and 24.77 respectively with Sourbeer rounding out his first competition as a member of the Pride with a 56.20 finish in the 400-meter dash.

In potentially the least shocking news coming from the meet, racewalker Noah Church qualified for his return to nationals with an A Standard 3000-meter racewalk time of 14:08.40 as he'll potentially be joined in Brookings, S.D. in March by teammate Benjamin Vasquez as Vasquez hit the B Standard with his 15:09.01 in his first collegiate race after missing the 2021-22 season.

Fellow distance runners for Clarke Kole Haverly, Carson Sansenbach, and Bryce Kondos opened their season strong with top three finishes as Sansenbach won the mile with a 4:40.26 with Kondos right behind him at 4:41.38 for second place. Sansenbach ran in the 800-meter run to a sixth-place 2:00.73 as Kondos ran in the 3000-meter run to an eighth-place 9:37.28. Haverly took third place in the 600-meter run with a time of 1:27.35 and wrapped up his meet as the anchor leg to the 4x400 meter relay with Musonda, Alvarado, and Timothy Miller as that team finished in sixth place with a 3:45.14 time.

Miller was the lone men's pole vaulter that wasn't in the Heptathlon as he earned a third place finish with a height of 3.96 meters to score six team points for the Pride. Other lone members of Clarke's squad in field events were Wyatt Wilkins in the throws and Blake Willis in the long jump as Wilkins finished with a 12.95-meter best weight throw and was unable to score in the shot put with Willis jumping to a 5.78-meter 11th place finish.

This was Clarke track and field's lone event of the indoor season to take place before the calendar turns to 2023 as they'll be back on the track following their break for a trip to Waverly, Iowa to compete in the Chelsey Henkenius Open on Jan. 14.