INDIANOLA, Iowa - Nebraska Wesleyan track and field concluded a successful weekend at the American Rivers Conference Outdoor Championships at Simpson College, with the women capturing fourth place out of nine teams and the men securing fifth place overall. The two-day meet featured multiple record-breaking performances, several All-Conference honors, and a new school record in the women's 4x100-meter relay.
MEET HIGHLIGHTS
Women's 4x100 relay team of Keeley Hourigan, Raegan Levi, Chloe Mooberry, and Natalie Cummins broke the school record with a time of 47.11 seconds, earning All-Conference honors with a third-place finish.
Avery Decker won the women's javelin championship, while Aliah Clarke secured All-Conference recognition as the runner-up in the same event. Natalie Cummins earned All-Conference as the runner-up in the women's 100 meters, with teammate Raegan Levi also achieving All-Conference status with a third-place finish.
Colin Wojtkiewicz finished as the conference runner-up in the men's hammer throw to earn All-Conference honors. Emily Druse represented the Prairie Wolves on the All-Conference team with a third-place finish in the women's pole vault.
Sam Clements earned All-Conference with a third-place finish in the men's shot put. The women's discus squad, ranked first nationally, delivered with four top-eight finishes, securing 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 8th places.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The A-R-C Championships started strong for Nebraska Wesleyan with Rachel Smith and Keely Hourigan both advancing to the finals in the women's 100-meter hurdles, ultimately finishing 4th and 5th respectively. The men matched this success with two qualifiers in the 110-meter hurdles, where Trystin Myers and Tanner Johnson would later place 5th and 7th.
McClain Meyer and Gavin Vlcan delivered standout performances in the men's 400 meters, both recording lifetime bests to qualify for the finals. Meyer would go on to finish 4th and Vlcan 6th in the event final, scoring crucial points for the Prairie Wolves.
The women's sprinters made their mark on the NWU record books throughout the weekend. Raegan Levi ran a lifetime best in the 100 meters that moved her to 4th on the all-time charts, while Natalie Cummins also recorded a personal best to claim 6th in the program's history. Levi continued her impressive weekend in the 200 meters, running 24.88 in preliminaries to rank 7th all-time at NWU, before finishing 4th in the finals with another lifetime best that elevated her to 5th on the all-time charts.
In the field events, the Prairie Wolves secured multiple scoring positions. Colin Wojtkiewicz placed 6th in the discus and later finished as the conference runner-up in the hammer throw, with teammate Eric Lenz adding a point with an 8th-place finish. Natalie Cummins and Chloe Mooberry went 4-5 in the women's long jump, while Lachlan Pickering secured 6th in the men's triple jump.
The women's pole vault brought additional points with Emily Druse's 3rd-place All-Conference performance, followed by Libby Driver in 5th and Sydney Cheek in 7th. On the men's side, Robbie Rist and Graham Peterson contributed with 7th and 8th place finishes.
Middle-distance runner Delaney Vacek ran a lifetime best in the 800 meters to advance to the finals, moving her to 8th on the NWU all-time list. She would go on to finish 4th in the finals. In the hurdles, Rachel Smith qualified for both the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles finals, finishing 4th in the shorter distance and 6th in the longer race with a new lifetime best. Connor Plahn and Tanner Johnson scored in the men's 400-meter hurdles, placing 4th and 7th.
The distance events saw Avary Byers secure 8th in the women's 10,000 meters, while Conner Ross placed 6th in the men's race. Kari Mathsen delivered what her coach called "the race of her life" to finish 5th in the women's 5,000 meters.
In the relays, the women's 4x800 team of Delaney Vacek, Grace Pyle, Maddie Demke, and Alexis O'Connell placed 7th, while the men's quartet of Lucas Steuter, Alex Ienn, Jacob Wertz, and Trevor Larson finished 4th. The women's 4x400 relay team of Chloe Mooberry, Rachel Smith, Jadah Laughlin, and Delaney Vacek crossed the line in 5th place.
The meet concluded with perhaps the most exciting performance of the weekend as the women's 4x100 relay team of Keeley Hourigan, Raegan Levi, Chloe Mooberry, and Natalie Cummins blazed to a school-record time of 47.11 seconds, good for 3rd place and All-Conference recognition.
