2024 GPAC INDOOR TRACK & FIELD CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW
Mitchell, S.D. –
With the GPAC Indoor Track & Field Championship coming up, the Tigers get prepared to have some big performances. Dakota Wesleyan has seen several standouts this season in indoor track and field in Abby Magnuson, Hunter Shanks, and Caleb Sayler. Magnuson leads the conference in the shot put as well as rewriting the DWU record book and hit the A standard for nationals in every meet she threw in. Shanks has auto qualified in three events in the 600m, 800m and 1k races this season and has broken the school record in all three races. Sayler is one of the top long-distance runners in the conference. Currently Sayler is fourth in the 3k and 5k, fifth in the mile, and ninth in the 1k while flirting with the national standard marks in all four races.
A Look Back at the Season –
The Tiger's competed in seven meets this season, one being back at the beginning of December. In those seven meets, the Tigers have seen twelve top 10 finishers, nine of which were top four. This season saw a stack of new personal bests across both the men and women's teams. Caley Murphy has PR'ed in several of her events and in the last meet of the season, moved up to sixth in DWU history in the 600m. Another record that had a new addition to the top 10 at DWU was the women's 4x400m relay that consisted of Dani Deffenbaugh, Tanley Goebel, Caley Murphy, and Hailey Oswald when they ran a time of 4:19.36 to move to the ninth spot in DWU history.
Athletes to Watch –
- Hunter Shanks has been tearing up the track all season and will look to do so again this weekend when he runs in the 800m race. Shanks has automatically qualified for the NAIA National Championships in three events but will look to hit All-American in the 800m race.
- Caleb Sayler will be running in a pair of long-distance races as he looks to hit some national standards in both the 1 mile and the 1k. In the conference, Sayler ranks 5th in the mile and 9th in the 1k and is looking to hit National Standard marks in both after being within seconds throughout the season for both.
- Abby Magnuson will look to hold onto her top spot in the conference in the shot put with her top throw of the season being 14.97m. Magnuson had never thrown in an indoor meet until just this season and crushed her previous outdoor record by almost two meters.
Head Coach Matt Rosado's Thoughts –
"Going into this weekend, our plan is to just win. Abby has a good chance being ranked this high in the shot put, so to come in number one in the GPAC proves she is a contender, not just in the GPAC but nationally. Hunter is looking to take the top spot in the 800m, after he got fourth last year, we really want to go for that top spot. That's why we had him running the 1000m and 600m to prepare him for Nationals. His goal is to be an All-American in his best race, the 800m. Caleb is one of the most well-rounded runners in our region, being ranked top 15 in four races (mile, 1k, 3k, 5k) is impressive and our goal is to a hit a standard in the mile and the 1k. Throughout the season we have seen a lot of growth for our team. Sam (Kludt) keeps on improving including throwing over a meter past her personal best in our home meet in her events. The group of 400m girls continue to PR in every meet as well."
GPAC Indoor Track & Field Championships –
With their newly installed camera system, Mount Marty University will host the GPAC Indoor Track and Field Championships in Yankton, S.D. The Tigers will have athletes competing on both days over February 16th and 17th with the first event starting at 1:00 p.m. on Friday.
Schedule of Events, Heat Sheets, Live Video for field events and running events, and Live Results. All links are also available on the DWU Athletic Website and the GPAC Website.
