TOPEKA, Kan. The Tabor men's indoor track team began their season at the Washburn Alumni Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 2nd.
The Bluejays competed well in the 5000m run with two top four placers. Sophomore Ryan Stade (15:08.13) took second, completing his race just before fellow junior Logan Dybowski (15:41.69), who finished in fourth place.
The other top performance in the running events for Tabor was courtesy of junior Dillon Callaway, who placed fourth in the 1000m (2:29.17).
"Dillon also ran a B Standard national qualifying mark in the 1000. He will run even faster during the rest of this indoor season," Head Coach David Kroeker said.
In the rest of the track results for Tabor, junior Nicholas Green placed 12th in the 1000m (2:43.98), followed by senior Tyrel Haynes (3:08.39) in 14th and junior Apostolo Zuniga (3:19.54) in 15th. Haynes (5:25.62) and Zuniga (5:29.74) would also place 16th and 17th in the mile, respectively.
Junior Brandon Geyer placed 15th in the 400m (52.55), while freshman Taegen Gallagher (52.68) finished right behind him in 16th, in addition to placing in the top 35 of the 200m (23.63).
In the field events, the lone point scorer for the Bluejays was junior Vance Shewey. Shewey's performance in the high jump (6-08.75) earned him a fourth place finish in the event and just missed out scoring points in the long jump (20-11.75), finishing 10th.
"Vance did what he had to do today in the high jump as he equaled the A national qualifying standard for that event," Kroeker said.
Junior Joshua Garcia nearly scored points for the Bluejays in the weight throw (43-11.75), finishing ninth. Garcia would also take 12th in the shot put (40-03.25), followed by sophomore Chase Nash (38-10.25) in 13th and freshman Caleb Wehrman (34-11.25) in 19th. Nash also finished 12th in the shot put (41-11.25) and Wehrman was 16th in the pole vault (12-04.00).
"All in all, Tabor had 5 individuals (men and women) hit national indoor standards today. Not a bad way to start off the indoor season I would say," Kroeker said. "We had a number of other PRs in the meet and the freshmen got a taste of their first indoor competition. All in all it was a really good way to start our indoor season. We will build on what we accomplished today and improve."
The Bluejays have a month off before they return to action on Jan. 13 at the Scott Nisely Memorial Classic in Crete, Neb.
Tabor College is a Christ-centered institution located in Hillsboro, Kansas. The Bluejays are members of the NAIA and compete in the KCAC.
