Pride track and field wraps up busy final week of January

GRINNELL, Iowa - Closing out the January portion of their schedule, the Clarke University track and field teams posted a 5th place women's team placement and a 6th place in the men's portion of the Grinnell Invitational on Saturday after freshmen Nick Zaprianov and Deshawn Rucker both competed in their first multi event of the 2026 calendar year in the Dutch Winter Multi on Thursday and Friday.

Starting with Saturday's full team event at Grinnell Invitational, the Pride were able to produce five top-three finishes led by earning pole vault wins on both the men's and women's side for the third-straight week when Keifer Landes and Grace Squires both posted season-best height clearances with Landes clearing 4.45 meters and Squires going over at 3.25 meters as both sit 0.30 meters away from their chase of hitting an NAIA National Championship qualifying standard.

At the jump pits, both Ja'kobe Kizer and Gracee Roig took home triple jump second place finishes with Kizer's best jump landing at 13.10 meters and Roig getting to 10.37 meters with the final podium-esque finish for CU coming in the men's 800 meters where Cord Nietert ran to a third place 2:01.34 just 0.30 seconds in front of teammate Bryce Kondos, who clocked in at fifth with his season best time of 2:01.64.

Along with Kondos, six other Clarke athletes posted an event placement of fifth or better with Jaycee Franco running to a fourth place in the women's 800 meters, Isabelle Matthews cleared a 1.45-meter high jump for fourth place, both Kizer and Roig earned top five in the long jump with Kizer going to fourth with his 6.29-meter best jump and Roig landing at 4.97 meters in her best attempt, Joshua Musonda earned a fifth place finish in the men's 200-meter dash, and Tiana Culmer ran a 7.97-second 60-meter dash time in the finals for fifth place, improving on her 8.04 in qualifying.

Full Grinnell Invitational Results: https://results.wayzatatiming.com/meets/60236/teams/1450647

Over to the Dutch Winter Multi on Thursday and Friday, Zaprianov earned the top finish between he and Rucker in the heptathlon, placing 9th overall out of 15 competitors with a point total of 4,037 while Rucker earned a 12th place finish at 3,550 with the best event finish for each came in field events with Zaprianov placing sixth in the field in the pole vault at a 3.75-meter clearance and Rucker earning a fourth in the long jump at 6.29 meters.

Full Dutch Winter Multi Results: https://results.aatiming.com/meets/60867/events/individual/2227008

Pride track and field will have one more weekend of tuneup events before the Heart of America Indoor Championships when they take a select few to the Iowa State Classic on Friday, Feb. 6 in Ames, Iowa with the rest of the group staying local to compete in the Spartans Shootout at University of Dubuque on Saturday, Feb. 7.