BELOIT, Wis – The outdoor season opener was delayed one week after the WI Private College Championships were cancelled but that didn't hold back the Red Hawks as they recorded over 10 all-time performances, including one school record, at the Beloit Open on Saturday.
Freshman
Cade Gray followed up his school record clearance indoors by setting a new all-time Red Hawk best on Saturday outdoors. Gray had no misses all the way through 14-7.25 (4.45m), which was less than two inches under the record Kyle Novack set in 2015 of 14-9 (4.50m). The bar went up to 15-1 (4.60m) and Gray cleared it on his third and final attempt. That height ranks him 21st currently in NCAA DIII and second in the MWC.
A duo of Lady Red Hawks recorded performances that rank second all-time in school history.
Mikayla Flyte debuted in the 5000m in a big way as she dropped nearly a minute off of her outdoor best from 2021, and nearly a minute ahead of second place, as she won the event Saturday with a new PR of 18:27.22.
Emma Spalding finished top-4 in four different events, starting with the 100m dash as she ran a PR time of 12.51 seconds which is the second fastest ever by a Red Hawk. She also ran an outdoor PR in the 200m of 25.92 seconds (ninth all-time), while also running a leg on two relays. The 4x100 relay team of Spalding,
Jenna Erickson,
Kara Block and
Payton Rahn opened up in a time of 50.05 seconds which ranks fourth all-time and finished second overall.
In addition to Flyte, senior
Makaila Weddle had the other victory for the day for the women's team as she pulled away from the field in the 800m, finishing with a time of 2:25.65.
Dameco Walker had a hand in both event wins for the men's team as he leapt out to 21-10 (6.65m) to win the Long Jump while anchoring the 4x400 relay to victory.
Jacob Jumbeck,
Wyatt Lowrance and
Rainier Villanueva teamed up with Walker to run 3:28.38 to land in the top-10 all-time list.
Another bright spot in the men's jumps was
Ben Fisher as he finished runner up in the High Jump with a new outdoor personal best clearance of 6'4.75/1.95m. That ties him atop the MWC leaderboard, moves him up to fourth in school history and 31st currently in NCAA DIII.
Three performances in the throwing events also made their way onto the all-time lists, two from
Kalyn Otzelberger and one from
Arynn Mathieu. Otzelberger had a great all-around day with her biggest marks coming in the form of PR's in the Discus (129'1/39.34m) and Hammer Throw (130'2/39.67m), both ranking sixth all-time at Ripon. Mathieu connected on some big throws in the Javelin as she improved on her PR from last year by over 20 feet going out to 101'10/31.05m which ranks tenth in school history and second so far in the MWC.
