Pride track and field continues outdoor trek at Mustang Distance Carnival and Open
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Getting to the eventual 2026 Heart of America Outdoor Championships venue about a month prior to that meet, the Clarke University track and field teams competed on Friday and Saturday at the Mustang Distance Carnival and Open hosted by Mount Mercy University.
The Pride men's relay teams highlighted the day as both the 4x100 meter and 4x400 meter relay teams broke the school record time as the 4x100 team of Gavayne Smith, Joshua Musonda, Bradey Huseman, and Jake Etherington ran to a first place time of 41.67 seconds with both Musonda and Etherington running in the 4x400 relay with John Raven and Nick Zaprianov to run a 3:20.30 for fifth place.
In the women's competition, three CU athletes won their events with Grace Squires and Isabelle Matthews continuing their success in the pole vault and javelin at top marks of 3.23 meters and 36.54 meters respectively while Jaycie Franco earned a 3000-meter steeplechase victory with an 11:44.59 time.
At the springs on both teams, Tiana Culmer and Hannah Quang were a placement away from qualifying for sprint finals for the women with Culmer running a 12.67-second 100 meter dash and Quang ran a 16.70 100-meter hurdles time in the prelims then Etherington and Musonda both qualified for the 100-meter dash finals on the men's side but did not start the finals as they both ran to 11.03-second times in the prelims then Etherington ran a 22.46 200-meter time for fourth place and Raven placed seventh in the 400 meters at a time of 50.85 seconds.
More distance results along with Franco's steeplechase win, Chesney Capron earned a third place 4:13.25 time in the men's 1500 meters, Cord Nietert posted a 2:00.08 in the 800 meters, then Eric Chatham and Bridget Bracy posted 5000 meter times of 16:38.51 and 20:18.29 respectively.
Other jumping events had Gracee Roig earn a fourth place long jump distance of 5.06 meters then a fifth place triple jump at 10.52 meters, Reese Ryan had a 4.98-meter long jump and cleared a 1.47-meter bar in the high jump, Ja'kobe Kizer and Deshawn Rucker posted long jumps of 6.48 and 6.30 meters, and Keifer Landes won the men's pole vault with a 4.35-meter clearance.
Full Results: https://live.kauderresults.com/meets/66262/teams/1546725
Pride track and field will be back in action next weekend for their second-straight two-day meet when they travel to Rock Island, Ill. for the second time of the outdoor season for the Augustana Meet of Champions on Apr. 17-18.