Pride track and field wraps up final indoor weekend before conference

DUBUQUE, Iowa - In the final weekend of indoor competition before their postseason begins, the Clarke University track and field team sent individuals to compete in Iowa State University's Iowa State Classic on Friday while also competing locally in Dubuque on Saturday at the Spartan Shootout hosted by University of Dubuque.

Starting off the weekend in Ames, Iowa, it was a group of men's runners that produced the best event finishes starting with Cord Nietert running to a third place in the 600-yard with a time of 1:15.05, less than two seconds behind the race winner from Iowa State with Gavayne Smith running both the 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash with a fifth place finish in the 60 at 6.91 seconds with his 200 time finishing just behind teammate Jake Etherington with Smith running to a 22.30 and Etherington just in front at 22.28.

On the women's side on Friday in Ames, Jaycie Franco finished in eighth for the 1,000-meter run with a 3:08.65 with Grace Squires finishing in second out of three pole vault competitors at a best clearance of 3.38 meters and Isabelle Matthews competing in the long jump and high jump to a 4.84-meter long jump and a 1.48-meter high jump.

Both Ja'kobe Kizer and Keifer Landes took the trip to Ames for their respective jump events with Landes placing in second with a 4.40-meter pole vault and Kizer finishing in seventh in the long jump at a best jump of 6.41 meters.

Full Iowa State Classic Results: https://live.pttiming.com/?mid=8676

Back in the DBQ, Gracee Roig produced a long jump win and a triple jump runner-up at distances of 5.25 meters and 10.76 meters respectively with Tiana Culmer posting a 7.94-second 60-meter dash final time while also running to a fourth place 27.25 in the 200 meters just ahead of Samantha Fowler's fifth place 27.39.

For the men at the Spartan Shootout, Landes would use his second-straight day of competing in the pole vault to finally reach his first goal of his first season with the Pride and hit the NAIA qualifying B standard, clearing the bar at 4.75 meters, joining Smith in punching their tickets to Gainesville, Fla. at the beginning of March.

Another event win at UD came from the the men's 4x400 meter relay team of Joshua Musonda, Etherington, Nietert, and John Raven as that group ran to a near 10 second win at a time of 3:26.79.

Similar to Landes, other notable finishes for the Pride in the Spartan Shootout came from those who also traveled to Ames with Etherington earning a runner-up finish in the 60-meter dash at 7.05 seconds and Kizer also placed second in the triple jump at 13.74 meters.

Full Spartan Shootout Results: https://milesplit.live/meets/730170/events/3/results/F/F

Next up for Clarke track and field will be the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships, slated for Feb. 20-21 in Maryville, Mo. to begin their 2025-26 postseason events.