HILLSBORO, Kan. – Bluejay Track and Field hosted the 36^th Annual Tabor College Invitational this past Saturday. The weather was cloudy and cool, but the predicted rain held off and the meet went off without a hitch.
 
The Bluejays saw two top five finishes in the women's 800m race, with Julianna Maxfield taking first with a time 2:24.16 and Kylie Arnold taking fifth, running a time of 2:32.03. Maxfield's victory would be the first of several titles earned by Bluejay athletes at the meet. The women's 1500m race proved to be exciting, featuring eight Lady Bluejays, including three top five finishes: Brooke Wiebe with a time of 4:45.75, Hannah Grover, running a time of 4:53.84, and Sonya Zimmerman with a time of 4:54.21, each of those three coming off a stellar performance at the KU Relays. 
 
Kaylee DeAngelis snagged first place in the women's 5000m race, running a time of 19:37.78, almost two minutes faster than the second-place finisher. Jordyn Lowrie took second in the women's high jump, clearing the bar with a final height of 1.60m, tying her previous mark from the meet at Emporia State back on March 28^th. Andelyn Johnson added to the title count for the Bluejays with a throw of 35.15m in the women's discus, which was good for first place overall and over a meter further than the next closest thrower. 
 
On the men's side, Dillon Callaway took first in the men's 800m race with a time of 1:54.38 while Darren Klukas ran 1:57.66 to finish third. Klukas turned around and won the men's 1500m race, running a time of 4:04.66 with Ryan Stade snagging the third-place spot with a time of 4:07.22. Vance Shewey continued his stellar season by winning the men's high jump, after punching his ticket to the NAIA National Championship with his performance last week at Wichita State. 
 
"When you host a track meet that are two things you want to go well" remarked Head Coach Dave Kroeker. "First, you want your own athletes to do well and 2nd, you want the meet to run smoothly. Both were accomplished on Saturday."
 
"On a quite cool day temperature-wise, our men and women had several first-place performances, many top eight finishers and multiple personal records set."
 
Kroeker was appreciative of his former athletes who officiated all the field events as well as all of the other volunteers and community members that worked the meet.
 
"Special thanks also goes out to a number of community members and the Tabor Volleyball team who raked pits, etc., Mike James who announced the meet, Lexi Milne who organized the hip numbers for the entire meet, Toby Penner and Pierce Klaassen who commentated the live stream, and eight Tabor football players who moved hurdles and steeples. They all did excellent work that made for a very successful day on the track and in the field!" 
 
The Bluejays will head to Baldwin City for the Baker University Open this coming Saturday.
 
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 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and compete in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC).