Track Team Competes, Kirkwood Qualifies in Shot Put at Sioux City Relays
The Faith Track & Field team left late Friday morning to compete in the 2-day Sioux City Relays event hosted by Morningside College. It was a beautiful weekend for a track meet with temperatures in the mid-70's both Friday and Saturday! There was a southerly wind that seemed to change directions frequently, but stadium seating on the south side of the track blocked most of the wind for the running events, which was a blessing.
Freshman Jacob Kirkwood started off the weekend competition for the Faith team with the shot put event. His third and final throw in the event flew to the 13.22 meter mark and qualified him to compete in the shot put in Georgia at the NCCAA National Track & Field Meet! Jake will be competing for Faith at nationals in both the shot put and discus events.
The 100 meter dash event was first running event of the weekend for Faith. Sophomore Rebecca Reinertson ran the straightaway in 14.58 seconds, and Freshman Micah Cressey completed it in 13.85 seconds. Both times were improved from last weekend's meet.
Freshman Wendy Busenitz was up next with the 800 meter run, finishing strong with a time of 2:29, which was 7 seconds faster than last weekend, and just 5 seconds shy of the national meet qualifying time of 2:24.5! Cressey and Reinertson took to the track again, this time running the 200 meter dash. Rebecca ran it in 29.72 and Micah completed it in 28.12. Both were over a second faster than last weekend!
The remaining events for our team on Friday night were both run by Freshman Evan McKinney. First was the 400 meter hurdles, which Evan finished in a time of 64.0 seconds, and a short hour later he ran the oval again in the 400 meter dash, finishing with a time of 59.6. Those are difficult events to run that close together, but Evan did a great job with both. Rebecca had planned to run the 400 meter dash for the women, but ended up with an injury in the arch of her left foot and was forced to scratch out of the event.
Saturday morning started off at 9:00 am with Jake throwing the discus. He did a great job, with two throws over 40 meters (40.15 and 40.19). Evan ran the men's 3000 meter steeplechase for the first time and finished the grueling race in a time of 12:18. The seven and a half lap race requires the runners to jump into / across a water pit seven times and clear four other barriers each lap as well! The final event on Saturday afternoon was Wendy running the 1500 meter run. This event is just short of a mile, and she completed it in a time of 5:23.
The team continues to improve with each track meet throughout the season, and we thank you for praying for us! We praise God for safety, and are praying for healing and recovery as we finish out the rest of the season. This coming weekend we head north again, this time to Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.
