RedTails Win Mt Mercy Invite
CEDAR RAPIDS–The RedTails came in strong and placed first in the Mount Mercy Invite on April 23, 2022.
The RedTails dominated in the sprints, scoring 49 points in the 100 meter and 200. The sprints team took advantage of the warmer weather and tailwind as eight guys set all time bests in the 100 and eight guys had all time bests in the 200.
The 4x1 team continued to show its strength as there was a slightly different line up and on the fringe of hitting the NJCAA auto standard for nationals.
The middle distance crew ran strong as they placed third and fifth, practicing a more patient approach in the race.
The 400 hurdles crew is also working on getting their steps and smoothing things out.
D'artagnon Beaver won the 3K steeple with ease as he set a personal best mark of 10:09.69.
Blake Veenstra showed his dominance in the throws as he won the shot put with a personal best mark of 16.83 meters, improving his school record and national mark. He had strong marks, also placing second in the discus and hammer.
The 4x400 relay teams of Blake Osborn, Chase Mullenix, Edgar Tapia, Isaac Vaske, Brigham Daniel, Mason Chipman, Jacob Jensen, and Jeron Shaw capped off the meet as two teams and went one-to-two with some fast splits to have a new meet record of 3:22.50 for our winning team.
"As a coach this meet was a fun one to sit back and watch the kids execute race plans and come away with personal bests," said head coach Tyler Mulder. "At the end of the meet we were all able to cheer on Blake Veensra in his final attempts in shot put, which was special because we rarely get that opportunity as a team and shows how much these kids care for each other, it really got his energy levels up too as he was able to heave a huge new personal best! We're bringing good energy into the Drake Relays/Simpson weekend and will be able to swing that into our Region XI championships!"
The RedTails are back in action April 28-29 at Drake University.
