Courtesy of UNK Athletics
Kearney, Neb. – Sophomore Rylan Basart broke his own school-record in the javelin, senior Wes Ferguson got close to breaking his school-record at 800 meters and Nebraska-Kearney won six events at the Midwest Classic Friday in Emporia and California.
Most of the Lopers were in Kansas this weekend with the Midwest Classic mainly being held on Friday. Head coach Brady Bonsall and several distance runners are in California at the Bryan Clay Invite at Azusa Pacific and the Leopard Distance Carnival at the University of La Verne. Action ran late into Friday night (Central time) with some Lopers running again on Saturday. At the Bryan Clay, which brings together top collegiate and professional runners from around the country, Ferguson (Fremont) was runner up in the 800-invite in a time of 1:45.85. That’s just off the 1:45.56 he ran last May to win the Division II national title. Ferguson vaulted up five spots over the last 150 meters thanks to his usual strong kick.
Only 26-year-old Jesus Tonatiu Lopez of Mexico (1:45.14) came in ahead of Ferguson. Lopez, the Mexican 800 record holder (1:44.40), has previously qualified for the Olympics and World Championships. The next collegiate finisher came in eighth (1:47.11) with the field consisting of 16 heats and 119 finishers.
Twenty minutes away in La Verne, redshirt sophomore Nick Abdalla (Omaha South) the program’s fourth fastest time in the steeplechase (8:59.02) to finish fourth in a field of 55. In the next race, sophomore Brynn Hirschfeld (York) came in eighth with the second-best time (10.54.33) in school history. Both times are provisional efforts that rank, at the moment, in the Top 20. Finally on Friday night at La Verne and Saturday evening at Azusa, Kearney redshirt junior Grace Bonsall was runner up at 10,000 (36:00.75) with David City junior Payton Davis (3:48.74) and Cortland junior Zach Van Brocklin (3:51.48) turning in two of the top 1,500 times in Loper lore. In Emporia, Basart (Stockton, Kan.) tossed the javelin 213-5 to beat the 212-9 he threw just a few weeks ago to break a 32-year-old mark. He finished fourth overall with freshman Wyatt Hammond (Long Island, Kan.) having the program’s fourth-best toss (211-3) as well. On the women’s side, Atlanta sophomore Hanna Stewart (134-10) and Kansas junior Brooklyn Staab (131-6) had career-best throws to finish sixth and eighth, respectively. Also having career bests and UNK all-time Top 10 efforts were Central City redshirt freshman Ella Buhlke in the steeple (1st place/11:28.10), Kearney senior Nicole Messbarger in the 800 (2nd/2:14.06) and Fremont junior Jackson Clausen at 100 meters (7th/10.64). Next, Stamford sophomore Brianna Russell (5-8) and Kearney senior Brayden Sorensen (6-11.75) both won the high jump with season-best efforts. Finally, Giltner graduate Alex Goracke won the hammer (192-1) by nearly 30 feet, Kearney redshirt sophomore Lily Novacek was first in the women’s event (166-6) and Kansas sophomore Lexi Liess (18:24.91) and Albion junior Jordan Soto-Stopak (18:27.64) went 1-2 at 5,000 meters.
UNK hosts the Loper Invitational next Friday at Kearney High School.
