Twenty-three top 10 finishes set Storm Track and Field up for final meet

Photo+by+Corinne+Thomas

Photo by Corinne Thomas

by Madison DePover, Photo Editor

Leading the Storm men’s track and field teams, Carter Berkey and the distance medley relay team earned all-conference honors at the American Rivers Conference Indoor Championship on Sunday at Wartburg College.

 The team, consisting of James Murray, Steven Cruz-Castro, Clay Billheimer and Spencer Moon, broke the school record while placing second with a time of 10:21.65. The record beats the previous mark of 10:24.16 set in 2017 at the league championships.

A career-best distance of 6.77 meters for Berkey on the first attempt of six landed him in third in the long jump.

 “I knew coming in I had a chance, but it was an outside chance,” senior Berkey said. “I have been injured all year, and this was the first meet I was coming in at 100 percent almost. I just had to go out and do what I knew I could do.”

 The Storm men finished seventh overall on the day with 15 top-10 results.

 With three fifth-place results just missing the podium, Max Cleveland clocked 8.59 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and Spencer Moon ran the 3,000 meters in an 8:40.59. Brenden Godbout competed in the pentathlon, scoring 3,046 points, with the help of two third-place finishes in the 60-meter hurdles and the long jump.

 Cleveland also tallied a sixth in the 200 meters with a time of 22.78 seconds. In the throwing events, Mason Spree ended in seventh in the weight throw and 12th in shot put.

 Elliott Meyer finished sixth in the 60-meter hurdles, Murray in eighth in the 800 meter, Harry Dudley in eighth for 5,000 meters, Seth Nostrala tallied 10th in the 3,000 meters and Andrew Klein ended in ninth in the mile.

 The women competed on Saturday for the conference championship finishing in eighth place.

 Jamie Glanz competed in the pentathlon for the Storm, landing just shy of the podium with 2,882 points to end in fourth, the team’s best performance of the meet. Within the pentathlon, Glanz ended third in the shot put and three fourth-place nods in the high jump, long jump and 800 meters to boost her score.

 “I am motivated and driven, to get myself back on the podium and regular high jump [going into the outdoor season],” said Glanz. “There is momentum as I am getting it back to where I know I can jump.”

 Glanz placed top-10 in the high jump, ending in sixth with a 1.51-meter jump for a season-best.

 Other top finishers for the women were The Storms distance medley relay squad placed fifth with Kaya Young, Katelyn Mangold, Abby Loecke and Mackenzie Laughlinwith the time 13:17.77.

 The Storm has five different eighth-place finishes, Audrey Arnold with a 9.96 in the 60-meter hurdles, Cat Lucht with a 19:08.52 in the 5000 meters and Laughlin with a 5:44.41 in the mile. Arnold also grabbed the 11 place finish in the long jump.

 Both of the Storm’s relays finished in eighth place, the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 4:45.12, ran by Makayla Baker, Arnold, Glanz and Bopp. Then Loecke, Mangold, Young and Laughlin finished with the time 10:50.48 in the 4×800 for Simpson.

 The indoor season’s final meet is the Division III Elite Indoor Championships, where the men and women’s teams have qualifiers run on Friday, March 12 and Saturday, March 13.

 For the women’s team, the three qualifiers are Jamie Glanz in the Pentathlon, Audrey Arnold in the 60 hurdles and Mackenzie Laughlin in the mile.

 “I am excited to have another chance to really finish my senior season on a stronger note than conference,” Glanz said. “It is a chance to PR some more but get the place I know I deserve and worked for in the last four years. Going against a lot of the same girls, I am looking at it as a redemption.”

 For the men, there are nine individual qualifiers in 10 events and one relay. The men’s medley distance relay including James Murray, Steven Cruz-Castro, Clay Billheimer and Spencer Moon.

 “It is another chance for me to compete at 100 percent for indoor, and hopefully I will PR again, to hopefully get on that podium again,” said Berkey.

 The individual events include Brenden Godbout in the Pentathlon, Max Cleveland in the 60 hurdles, James Murray in the 800, Andrew Klein and Ryan Courtney in the mile, Spencer Moon in the 3000, Harry Dudley in the 5000, Carter Berkey in the long jump and Mason Spree in Shot Put and Weight Throw.