Wayne State’s indoor track and field teams performed well in their 2021 debut Saturday at the Wildcat Indoor Invite a the WSC Recreation Center.
In men’s action, the Wildcats won four events in the meet, which included teams from Augustana, University of Sioux Falls and Chadron State.
Senior Cade Kalkowski had a strong start to the season with a first place finish in the weight throw at 66 feet, 3 inches. Cole Christoffersen was second at 62-4 with Grant Fritsch sixth at 47-11. The marks for Kalkowski and Christoffersen were both NCAA provisional qualifying marks.
Junior Noah Lilly crossed the line first in the 60-meter hurdles finals in 8.88 seconds with teammate Kolton Needham fifth at 9.37. Brock Hegarty was the winner in the one mile run with a time of 4:31.39 while Bailey Peckham recorded a fourth-place finish at 4:49.38.
Wayne State’s other first place finish came from Jacob Ladage in the 400-meter dash at 54.49 seconds while freshman Dylan Kneifl tied for first in the high jump clearing 6-4 3/4 while teammate Aaron English was third at 6-0 3/4.
Other top Wildcat finishers included Michael Kueny second in the 600-meter run (1:26.74) followed by teammates Jakob Kemper in third (1:27.95) and Brandon Mundorf fourth at 1:30.25. In the 60-meter dash finals, senior Justin Rohloff came in fourth at 7.23 seconds with freshman Noah Carr fifth in 7.24 seconds.
In women’s action, freshman Megan Hansen made a stellar debut in the 60-meter hurdles with a first place finish in 9.19 seconds.
In the weight throw, junior Jadin Wagner placed second at 57-3 with Mckenzie Scheil third (56-9 1/4), both NCAA provisional qualifying marks.
Scheil was second in the shot put (44-3 1/2) with Kenzie Sullivan third (43-8) and Wagner fourth at 41-0 1/4. Freshman Makenna Taake came in second in the long jump (16-10) with Keyla Sambo fifth at 16-5. In the triple jump, senior Riana Noelle was fourth at 34-1 1/4 with Emily Smollen fifth at 34-1 1/4.
Other top WSC finishers were Brooke Solomon third in the mile run (5:48.91), Brianna Crouch fourth in the 1,000-meter run at 3:26.93, Molly McCartney fourth in the one mile run (5:51.62) and Jordyn Pester fifth in the 60-meter finals (8.21).
Wayne State will compete again Saturday, Jan. 23 at the Dakota Realty Invitational at the Dakota Dome in Vermillion, S.D.
