OMAHA, Neb. - The Tabor Bluejays men's indoor track and field team put together a few record-shattering individual performances at the KCAC Championships in Omaha, Neb. on Monday and Tuesday, finishing fifth as a team out of 13 teams.
The performance was led by Vance Shewey in the high jump. The two-time 2024 KCAC Field Athlete of the Week set a meet and school record on his 'A' Standard leap, giving the Tabor its only active KCAC meet record. He took first place in the high jump (7-00.75) and fourth place in the long jump (22-06.75). Shewey has qualified for nationals in both events.
"I would describe Vance's performance in the HJ as "guttsy". He struggled early in the competition at lower heights but persevered. He made 17 attempts, setting the record on his 14th attempt of the competition. That's just a ton of attempts in a competition! But he is just that kind of competitor!" Head Coach David Kroeker said.
Another school record was broken in the field, as Caleb Wehrman took second in the pole vault (14-09.25). Other Tabor performances in the field included Joshua Garcia, who took ninth in the weight throw (46-00.00) and 13th in the shot put (40-04.75), and Chase Nash, who took 12th in the weight throw (44-10.00).
"Another really amazing performance was Caleb Wehrman in the pole vault. He has quite a disadvantage as a pole vaulter during the indoor season because we don't have any place to practice going over a bar into a pit indoors. That, coupled with the fact that he took a very scary fall on one of his early attempts only makes his performance that much more remarkable," Kroeker said.
On the track, Ryan Stade also left his mark on the meet, taking first in the 3000m (8:36.61) and 5000m (14:53.72). Stade, who had already qualified for nationals in the 3000m, qualified for nationals in the 5000m with a 'B' Standard performance, while also breaking the school record in the process.
"Stoked for Ryan and the weekend he had. First Bluejay to ever break 15 minutes in the 5k and to do it, while winning a KCAC championship is incredible! Huge milestone in the running world and he backed it up with a wire to wire win in the 3k. He's a special talent and I'm glad he's on our team!" Distance Coach Rylan Hincher said.
Dillon Callaway turned in an 'A' Standard third place performance in the 1000m (2:28.82), an event he's already qualified for nationals. He also placed sixth in the 800m (1:58.77), where he has also qualified for nationals. Also in the 1000m, Darren Klukas took 11th (2:39.23) and Tyrel Haynes took 21st in the 800m (1:38.46).
"Dillon Callaway had some huge performances himself with the 1000 being a national preview. The top 4 finishers in the KCAC for the event are all ranked in the top 10 for the NAIA now!" Hincher said.
Also in the 5000m, Matt Veloz took 9th (15:52.79), Jerah Schmidt took 18th (16:52.32), Logan Dybowski took 19th (16:52.90) and Ryan Villarreal took 21st (17:17.37). Dybowski also took 17th (9:31.98) in the 3000m. In the 400m, Taegen Gallagher took 10th (52.30).
Other performances on the track included Caleb Wehrman finishing 10th (9.27) and Trevor Brokar finishing right behind in 11th (10.29) in the 60m hurdles, Brandon Geyer finishing 14th (1:27.29) and Tyrel Haynes finishing 23rd in the 600m, and Ryan Villarreal finishing 17th (4:50.11) and Apostolo Zuniga finishing 27th (5:18.13) in the mile.
In the DMR, the Bluejays took fourth (11:03.37) with a team of Veloz, Nicholas Green, Klukas and Schmidt. In the 4x800m relay, Tabor took sixth (8:19.12) with a team of Geyer, Klukas, Green and Callaway. In the 4x400m relay, Tabor also took sixth (3:33.24) with a team of Gallagher, Nick Montoya, Shewey and Geyer.
"We had several great performances on the distance side with our men's DMR taking 4th. Veloz, Klukas, Green and Schmidt raced really well to finish 4th," Hincher said. "Pumped for our group and what we can do outdoors, outside of the national qualifiers, it's time to get healthy and keep training well for a big jump in performance."
Up next, the athletes that have qualified for nationals will compete at the NAIA Indoor National Championships from Thursday, Feb. 29 through Saturday, March 2 in Brookings, S.D. Outdoor track and field season is scheduled to start Friday, March 15 at the St. Mary's Distance Carnival, a distance-only event in Leavenworth, Kan.
"A number of other athletes also had personal records in their events so I was very pleased with the overall performance of our Tabor tracksters!" Kroeker said.
Be sure to stay up to date with all information regarding Bluejay Athletics by following us on X at @gotaborbluejays, on Instagram and Facebook @taborbluejays, and on our official athletic website, taborbluejays.com.
Tabor College is a Christ-centered institution located in Hillsboro, Kansas. The Bluejays are members of the NAIA and compete in the KCAC.
