Pride track and field begins outdoor season at Central Invitational

PELLA, Iowa - Getting back to action for their outdoor 2026 season, the Clarke University track and field team kicked off that outdoor portion with a trip to Pella, Iowa for the Central Invitational hosted by Central College on Saturday.

A pair of seniors posted some of the top individual event placements on the day as Isabelle Matthews produced a first place finish in the javelin throw, producing a final throw of 39.32 meters, coming up shy of her goal of hitting an NAIA qualifying standard mark by just over a full meter while Joshua Musonda on the men's side placed fifth in the 400 meters with a 49.25-second time.

A pair of freshmen produced slightly better placements for the Pride men as Ja'kobe Kizer continues his strong triple jumping after a quality indoor season as he finished in third place with a 13.87-meter best mark, Nick Zaprianov had a personal best pole vault clearance of 3.85 meters.

Two more Clarke men produced top-10 finishes as Bryce Kondos ran a 11:04.29 steeplechase and the final top-10 finish for the men coming from Omarr Locke's ninth place javelin throw of 48.17 meters.

Rounding out some other top women's finishes, Reese Ryan, Tiana Culmer, Grace Squires, and Jaycie Franco all had top-10 finishes in their events as Ryan finished tied for second in the high jump with a 1.50-meter clearance, Culmer ran to a ninth place in the 400 meters with a 1:01.31, Squires placed seventh in the pole vault by clearing 3.07 meters, and Franco ran a 11:54.49 in the steeplechase to finish in ninth.

Full Results: https://results.aatiming.com/meets/63838/teams/1525050

Pride track and field will get back to outdoor competition next Friday when they travel to Rock Island, Ill. for the Augustana College hosted Viking Olympics on Apr. 3.