Off to the Region XI Championship

PLATTEVILLE, WISC.–The RedTail Men's Track and Field competed in the UW-Platteville's Pioneers Invite on February 12 and qualified D'artagnon Beaver for nationals.

In the 60-meter dash, Ray Talbert had the top time in the prelim with a new facility record of 6.84. Blake Osborn also made the final 7.18. Unfortunately, Talbert false started in the final, but Osborn was able to best his time in a three-person final and finished with a personal record of 7.02.

Brigham Daniel was the top finisher with a strong time of 22.98 in the 200m.

In the 400, the long sprints crew ran strong races as they went for sixth, seventh, and eighth places, with Isaac Vaske leading the charge, just narrowly edging out his teammate, Eddy Vaske and Jacob Jensen close behind.

In the 800, a much more tactical race, Koby Brackemeyer was able to lead wire to wire to take the meet champion crown. Several other runners came in behind going fourth, sixth and ninth-Stephen Thomas, Chase Mullenix and Mason Chipman. 

Tyler Colvin ran a monster personal record in the 3K, he has had a phenomenal couple of meets as he was this past week's "Athlete of the Week" and continues to set personal records. 

D'artagnon Beaver punched his ticket to nationals in his second indoor 5K of the year. He ran a strong, smart race and had a phenomenal kick to run 15:31.60 to get the school record.  

In the 4x4, Eddy Tapia, Isaac Vaske, Jeron Shaw, and Brigham Daniel took third overall and ran some very strong splits.

Blake Veenstra was the meet champion with a throw of 15.84m in the shot put. 

In the weight throw, Veenstra placed fourth overall with a 16.40m mark.

"Overall we rested a few guys and are really looking to sharpen up and punch some final tickets to nationals," head coach Tyler Mulder commented. "The overall highlight of the meet would have been D'Artagnon punching his ticket to nationals in the 5K. We had a lot of improvements across the board and learned a lot that we can swing into our regional meet and national meet. Some of the athletes just need to put the final touches into their sprints, tactical races and be ready to compete next week for a Region XI Championship! Blake Veenstra also continues to show his dominance for NJCAA throwers and were excited for the next couple of weeks for him, along with Ray Talbert in the 60m.

The RedTails are back in action on February 18 at the Lamberti Rec Center in Storm Lake for the Region XI Championships.