(Written By Con Marshall)Â Â Â Â Â Â
Chadron State College’s new track and field will be initiated this weekend when the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference holds its championship meet on it. Track and field has long been one of the RMAC’s strongest sports and the conference is without question among the NCAA Division II’s best.
At least 500 athletes will be involved, representing the 13 schools that have track and field programs. There are 24 qualifiers in each event. Forty Eagles, 20 of each gender, have qualified, according to Head Coach Seth Mischke.
There will be three full days of competition, starting at about 9:15 each morning. Field events finals are slated each day while most of the track finals will take place Sunday afternoon. However, one highlights is set for mid-morning Friday. That’s when both 10,000-meter finals will take place.
While Colorado teams, taking advantage of training at high altitudes, have often dominated conference meet, the Chadron State men have placed fourth or higher in the outdoor meet’s team standings 11 times since 2001. That included last year, when they scored 111 points while finishing third. The CSC women won the outdoor championships in 2016 and also finished second or third three more times in that era.
The Eagles have not been at their best this season, largely because of injuries. A year ago, they were loaded with excellent sprinters, but three of the best, Morgan Fawver, Brodie Roden and Quincey Efeturi, have not been able to compete this year. In addition, a fourth, Osvaldo Cano, who had taken up lots of the slack and placed third in the 400 meters at the RMAC Indoor Meet in February, required an emergency appendectomy earlier this month, sidelining him for the season.
Still the Eagles have some clout. The women’s team got a big boost this year when Kyla Sawvell transferred from Black Hills State, where she had won 10 RMAC championships the previous three years.
Sawvell is the conference pacesetter in the women’s hammer throw with a best of 55.73 meters, or 182-feet, 10 inches. That puts her more than 10 feet ahead her nearest rivals.
The Wall, S.D., native also is fourth on the conference list in the shot put with a best of 14.17 meters, or 46-6, and is sixth among the discus throwers.
At this year’s National Indoor Meet, Sawvill was the bronze medalist in the shot put with a mark of 50-4 and also was fifth in the weight throw, making her the only contestant to place in both events.
Another CSC thrower, Courtney Smith of Casper, ranks sixth in the hammer throw entering this week’s conference meet and placed fourth in the event at the 2022 RMAC showdown.
The Eagles’ female leaders also include senior Carlie Collier of Dunning, Neb., who placed in both the 60 and 200 meters at this year’s RMAC Indoor Meet and also earned points in both the 100 and 200 at the outdoor meet a year ago.
On the men’s side, the Eagles return a conference record-holder. A year ago, Shane Collins of Bison, S.D., broke the conference’s hammer throw record that dated back to 2005 with a heave of 202 feet even.
Collins ended last season with a sore right shoulder, sat out the 2023 indoor season to rehabilitate, but has returned for the outdoors and will enter Friday’s competition with the RMAC’s best hammer throw this spring. It is 59.35 meters, or 194 feet, 9 inches.
Among the other Chadron State men who have performed well this spring are hurdlers Creighton Trembly of Longmont, Colo., and Logan Peila of Miles City, Mont.
Trembly won the silver medal in the 110-meter highs at last year’s conference championships in 14.59 seconds and has a best this spring of 14.42, which ranks third on the RMAC list. Peila has the fourth best time of 54.44 seconds this spring.
Four other CSC men who placed at the 2022 conference meet also will be competing again. They are Logan Moravec of Gering in the 800, Alec Penfield of Torrington in the high jump and both Harley Rhoades of Douglas, Wyo., and Kaden Dower of Riverton, Wyo., in the decathlon.
Moravec recently lowered his 800 time to a career-best 1:51.57, Penfield cleared 6-6 ¾ and Rhoades has chalked up 6,030 points in the decathlon, nearly 80 more than he scored last year.