Michaela Dendinger won the discus with an NCAA automatic national qualifying mark and also took first in the shot put and second in the hammer throw to highlight the Wayne State effort in action this past weekend.
In the Concordia Invitational in Seward, Dendinger launched the discus to a distance of 172 feet, 10 inches, an improvement of more than seven feet from her previous season-best mark, to improve on her NCAA automatic qualifying mark. She also won the shot put with a top mark of 50-5 1/4 and was second in the hammer throw at 201-8.
Tia Jones had the next best finish for Wildcat throwers at Concordia, taking 13th in the shot put (40-7 3/4).
In men’s action, Matthew Nemec hit an NCAA provisional mark in the hammer throw, taking ninth with a top heave of 176-1. Nick Schmit had a seventh-place finish in the 800-meter run in 1:58.61.
At the NSIC/MIAA Showdown in Maryville, Mo., Brady Metz placed third in the triple jump and fifth in the long jump to lead the Wayne State effort.
Metz came in third in the triple jump (47-5 3/4) and was fifth in the long jump with a top mark of 22-2 1/4. Clay Kramper scored a sixth in the 100-meter dash in 10.87 seconds, and the 1,600-meter relay of Brandon Marker, Nathan Pearson, Kak Ayaj and Cody Kralicek came in sixth with a time of 3:30.74.
Other top 10 finishers for the Wildcats included Travis Eller placing ninth in the decathlon with 5,448 points, Allen Arauz was ninth in the 400-meter hurdles (59.47) with Kralicek finished 10th at 59.62 seconds.
Top finishers for the Wildcat women included Shelby Poell taking 10th in the long jump (16-10 3/4), Shelby Roth was 11th in the high jump (5-1) and Mary Alderson took 14th in the 400-meter dash at 1:00.54.
The Wildcats will compete next on Saturday, April 15 at the UNK Invite in Kearney.
