CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The Knox College track and field teams finished up the competition at the Mustang Distance Carnival and Open, hosted by Mount Mercy University, on Saturday afternoon with a number of personal records being broken, one of which just missed topping a school record.
Sophomore Stephanie Nelson continued her strong campaign with a hammer throw of 42.54 meters (139 feet 6.75 inches), more than 14 feet further than her previous best. It also was fewer than seven inches from the Prairie Fire program record, set in 2010 by Christina Davis (140 feet 1 inch), leaving Nelson to settle for second place … for now. Her heave garnered her seventh place at the meet as well.
Two other Knox performances place those student-athletes on the team's all-time top performers list. Senior Jacob Anderson ran the 110 meter hurdles in 16.01 seconds, moving him up from eighth to seventh in the Prairie Fire annals. And the men's 4x100 meter relay team, consisting of fifth-year Taro Tsukahara, Anderson, first-year Jayvon Bolds and fifth-year Eusebio King Mills finished their race in 43.17 seconds, placing them 10th on the school's top performers in that event.
- Sophomore Cecelia Goodin and senior Franny Hilliard finished one-two in the women's 1500 meters open in 5:22.01 and 5:26.38, respectively, a season best for Goodin and a personal best for Hilliard.
- Other PRs recorded by the men on this day were by Tsukahara in the 100 meters, first-year Ryan Lautzenheiser nad sophomore Zach Durick in the 400 meters, first-year Chasyn Pollard in the 800 meters, first-year Colson Elisme and junior Austin Cernich in the hammer and senior Dylan Timmer and Cernich in the javelin.
- Women's PRs were achieved by first-year Mary Stockdale in the 1500 meters, and sophomore Kendall Lade in the hammer.
On Thursday and Friday this coming week, the Prairie Fire will compete at the Augustana Meet of Champions in Rock Island, Illinois.
