NAPERVILLE/ROCK ISLAND, Illinois – The Ripon track and field programs continued their push to the national championships this week, setting four new school records while competing in a pair of NCAA Final Qualifiers at both North Central College and Augustana College.
In the Cardinal Combined Qualifier at NCC on Monday and Tuesday,
Bridget Finn compiled a heptathlon score of 4437, vaulting herself into the top-10 in the North Region and the top-30 nationally.
A majority of the Red Hawks were in Rock Island competing at the final qualifier hosted by Augustana on Wednesday and Thursday. In the first running event on Wednesday night,
Jenny Cortes broke a 42-year-old school record in the 800-meter run. The sophomore crushed the previous record of 2:14.24, set by Dewi Oleson in 1982, with a 2:13.49 performance.
The fast times continued Thursday.
Dameco Walker,
Logan Vander Galien,
Jacob Davies and
Jacoby Cefalu re-wrote the 4x100 record, eclipsing their previous mark of 41.28 with a 41.20 showing in Rock Island. Cefalu wasn't done setting records on Thursday – the junior later broke his 100-meter dash record in the prelims with a 10.61 showing.
Another record was broken as
Kalyn Otzelberger narrowly broke her own discus record with a new toss of 42.39m – her previous record was 42.24m set in 2022.
Right near the current outdoor championships cutline in the high jump,
Ben Fisher jumped 2.03m on Thursday. His high-water mark of 2.05m this season will likely be enough to punch a ticket to outdoor nationals next week. Fellow nationals candidate Walker did not compete in the long jump or triple jump this week, but is likely to secure NCAA championship bids in both events.
UP NEXT
Ripon awaits to see if it will be awarded any bids to the 2024 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Selections will be announced Friday, May 17 by 7 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.
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