by Justin Wallace
Last weekend the Grinnell track team brought in fans and alumni for their annual Dick Young Classic track meet, in which the men’s team finished fourth and the women sixth. There were eighteen men’s teams and sixteen women’s teams in attendance, but both titles were taken home by perennial Midwest Conference power Monmouth.
The men relied on distance events and depth to rack up 79.5 points, 20.5 behind third place Simpson College. Evan Palmer-Young ‘08 was the only male individual champion at the meet, winning the 10k run in a swift 33:02, outracing alumnus Brian Menaker ‘04, who placed second in 33:19. The men’s 3200 relay team of Mike Van Hulle ‘07, Charlie Knuth ‘08, Colin Tschida ‘05 and Mitch Herz ‘05 also claimed victory in 8:14. Herz also ran a strong individual 800 meter time of 1:58.13 that placed him second—less than half a second behind Simpson’s Nick Sorbe (1:57.67).
“I felt I should’ve been a little more aggressive in my 800. I feel like I should’ve won, but sometimes that’s the way things shake down in a race like the 800,” Herz said.
Other strong performances were turned in by Tschida and Dave Honig ‘06, who placed 3-4 in the 1500; Chad Rapp ‘07, who garnered a fourth and a fifth place finish in throwing events and Ross Stutzman ’07 who tied for sixth in the high jump.
“I’d say overall we did pretty well,” said Herz, “considering there were some pretty good teams there like Monmouth and Wartburg. We had a bunch of personal bests, and people ran tough races.”
The women were led to their sixth-place finish by Sarah Spencer ‘08’s win in the 1500 (4:56) and runner-up finish in the 800 (2:26). Meredith Groves ‘08 and Katie Ryan ‘07 also placed second and third, respectively, in the 5000 meter run while Kate Diedrick ‘07 clocked 13.27 to cross the line sixth in the 100 meter dash.
“I’d say overall, considering the weather conditions, the team was pretty happy with their performances,” said sophomore Laura Zdunek, who ran a personal-best time of 2:35 over 800 meters. “Home meets are a good time because everyone comes out to the track and there’s always a good flow of people, whether it’s people walking by from the baseball game or professors coming out. It’s nice since we only have one home meet a year.”
Several members of the 1965 Grinnell track team, which still holds several school records, attended the event this year and talked with the team.
“I got a chance to talk to the guy who holds the record in the 800,” said Herz. “It was really nice to get a chance to meet them.”
The men’s and women’s teams will continue their season this Friday at the prestigious Drake Relays and the Simpson Twilight Invitational. The Relays continue on Saturday.
Only a few more tune-ups remain before the Midwest Conference Track and Field Championships take place May 13-14 at Monmouth College. Last year, the men finished third while the women placed eighth, but both teams, laden with young talent, will look to improve on last years’ performances.
Three performers set new Dick Young Invite records at their respective events on Saturday. Josh Moen of Wartburg won the 5k in 14:25.40, and in the hammer toss Caroline Capper of Simpson and Phil Barnett of Wartburg set records with throws of 155’2” and 167’2”, respectively.
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