Pittsburg State’s track and field teams look to repeat as MIAA champions during the conference’s outdoor championships this weekend at the Russ Jewett Outdoor Track and Field Complex.
This is the third meet at the new stadium, which sits on what was a grassy area at this time last year. A formal dedication is scheduled for Friday night shortly after 6 o’clock.
Both Pittsburg State teams are No. 2 in the latest Division II rating index – the women behind West Texas A&M and the men behind Grand Valley State.
There are four more men’s teams ranked among the top-25 – No. 9 Missouri Southern, No. 10 Northwest Missouri, No. 13 Nebraska-Kearney and No. 24 Fort Hays State.
Other nationally ranked women’s teams in the league are No. 5 Missouri Southern, No. 15 Central Missouri, No. 21 Northwest Missouri and No. 24 Fort Hays State.
The PSU men have won the last five conference outdoor championships, and the women are two-time defending league champions.
“The women should be in a good position,” Rutledge said. “They are very balanced, very deep.
“The men could make it interesting if we don’t do our job. Northwest Missouri has a really good team on the distance events and a lot of things on the track. So we’re going to rely pretty heavily on making sure we’re a balanced program and make sure everyone does what they need to do.
“As long as we do that, I feel good where we’re sitting. … We’re not probably as dominant as we’ve been in past years, but we have a lot of young guys and young women who are starting to figure out how to compete. It’s a long season, and we’ve had some injuries a little bit. We’re getting healthy, which is a good time to get healthy.”
The women’s team has seven pre-meet favorites – Zyra Shivers in the 110-meter hurdles, the 4x400 relay team, Bethany Umbarger in the high jump, Breanne Peters in the pole vault, Jazmine Williamson in the long jump, Alexa Binkley in the triple jump and Blakelee Winn in the heptathlon.
The Gorilla men have eight top seeds – Ilias Garcia in the 100, Kemarri Stewart in the 200, Caden Williams in the 400, the 4x100 relay team, 4x400 relay team, Grayson Smith in the pole vault, Jack Haukap in the hammer throw and Leo Chauchard in the decathlon.
Once again, it’s a talented field, led by 10 athletes – seven men, three women – who currently rank No. 1 in NCAA Division II.
The men’s top-ranked entries are PSU’s Williams in the 400 (45.89 seconds) and Haukap in the hammer (230 feet, 6 inches), Missouri Southern’s Cedric Pearson in the shot put (62-7.75) and Jamale Williams in the discus (196-5), Northwest Missouri’s Aziz Mohammed in the 1500 (3:38.68), Nebraska Kearney’s Nolan Studley in the high jump (7-3) and Washburn’s Justin Forde in the triple jump (53-11).
The women’s national leaders are in the field events – Missouri Southern’s Dailynn VanDeran in the shot put (55-4.75) and Keilee Johnson in the javelin (171-1) and Nebraska Kearney’s Lily Novacek in the hammer throw (218-0).
The meet starts at noon Friday with the multi events, and in a change from past years, there are also running and field events on the first day. The women’s long jump will start at 3 p.m., and action on the track runs from 6:15 to 8:45.
The multi events conclude Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Field events begin at 3:15, and the running events are at 5.
Championship Sunday has field events at 11 and running finals at 2. Team awards will be presented around 6:35.
Daily admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students/children ages 3-17. Three-day all-session passes are $15.
