Men's Track & Field Edges NWU in Dual Action
LINCOLN, Neb. - Doane men's track and field edged Nebraska Wesleyan, 93-86, in a tightly contested dual on Wednesday in Lincoln, powered by a dominant showing in the field events and key distance performances.
The Tigers piled up points in several event groups late to rally past the Prairie Wolves, highlighted by first-place finishes from Porter Bickley in the 5,000 meters, Jackson Kessler in the high jump, Ashton Pulliam in the pole vault, Michael Willey in the long jump, Brian Cech in the triple jump, Christopher Brown in the discus, Andrew Schmitz in the hammer throw and Mason Crumbliss in the javelin.
Doane's strength in the throws played a major role in the victory. Brown delivered one of the top efforts of the day with a winning toss of 52.68 meters in the discus, hitting the NAIA "A" standard and moving to fourth nationally. Schmitz also reached an NAIA "A" mark in the hammer with a winning throw of 59.87 meters, while Tad Dimmitt added a runner-up finish at 55.78 meters. In the shot put, Cale Bessler placed second with an NAIA "B" throw of 16.77 meters and Colton Dillon added another point with a fourth-place finish at 15.62 meters.
The Tigers also controlled much of the jumping competition. Kessler cleared 1.98 meters to win the high jump, while Presston Duryea took second at 1.93 meters. Pulliam captured the pole vault at 4.45 meters, and Roe Patton finished fourth at 4.00 meters. In the horizontal jumps, Willey won the long jump with a mark of 7.01 meters and Maddox Wagoner followed in second at 6.95 meters. Cech claimed the triple jump title with a leap of 14.30 meters, with Sawyer Tietgen taking second at 12.54 meters.
On the track, Doane picked up an important distance win from Bickley, who crossed first in the 5,000 meters in 15:17.29. Alvin Keter made it a strong 1-2 finish for the Tigers by placing second in 15:20.93. In the 1,500 meters, Michael Grigsby turned in a runner-up finish in 3:59.78, while Jayden Wall added a third-place effort in 4:02.32.
The 800 meters also provided a strong point haul for Doane. Emmanuel Yego finished second in 1:57.24, Lucas Gautier followed in third in 1:57.89, and Nate O'Brien and Eli Marez also posted sub-1:59 performances.
Mason Crumbliss led another standout event for the Tigers in the javelin, winning with a throw of 58.32 meters. Pryor Mathews placed second at 48.80 meters as Doane collected eight points in the event.
Elsewhere, Caleb Mulder placed third in the 400 hurdles in 55.08, Avyan Correa was fourth in 55.84, and Bladen Garcia took third in the 110 hurdles with a time of 15.38. Orion Ulmer added points in the 400 meters with a third-place finish of 51.29, while Ryland Garretson scored in the 100 meters by placing third in 10.94. Connor Bradley and Lincoln Konrad also chipped in points in the 200 meters.
Doane's top 4x400 relay unit of Mulder, Eli Marez, Yego and Jonathan Zoubek finished second in 3:19.78 to add three more points in a dual that came down to the final events.
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