WICHITA, Kan. – Bluejay Track and Field completed a busy week of competition with the final day of the Friends University Spring Open taking place this past Saturday. This year's meet at Friends featured a 31-team field, one of the largest the Bluejays have competed in yet this season.
 
Day 1
 
The opening day of the meet was comprised of a light slate of events featuring the first half of the decathlon and heptathlon events, as well as the men's and women's hammer throw. 
 
Caleb Wehrman had his eyes on doing something no athlete from Tabor College has done before, complete the decathlon. Wehrman completed the first five events of the competition on Thursday: the 100m race, long jump, shot put, high jump, and the 400m race. Wehrman ran a time of 11.64 seconds in the 100m, jumped a distance of 6.25m, threw 11.43m in the shot put to finish first in that event, and had a final leap of 1.69m in the high jump.
 
Andelyn Johnson landed a top-20 finish in the women's hammer throw with a mark of 35.77m, earning 19^th overall, while Joshua Garcia snagged 12^th with a final throw of 40.25m and Chase Nash took 19^th with a throw of 37.33m on the men's side.
 
Day 2
 
On Friday, Bluejay athletes competed in the women's javelin and long jump, as well as the second half of the decathlon competition. 
 
Caleb Wehrman closed out the second half of the men's decathlon with the 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin, and 1500m run. Wehrman completed the hurdles with a time of 17.31 seconds, threw for a distance of 30.38m in the discus throw, reached a height of 4.14m in the pole vault, threw the javelin for 41.80m, and ran a time of 5:21.38 in the 1500m race to finish the competition in fourth-place overall with 5711 points and cement himself in the Bluejay Track and Field record books as the first athlete from Tabor to ever complete the decathlon. Wehrman is currently ranked No. 11 in the NAIA in the decathlon and needs to finish the season ranked in the top 16 to earn a bid to the NAIA National Championships.
 
Lillie Veer continued her success this week, grabbing first place in the women's javelin after a strong debut to open her Track and Field career last weekend. Veer threw for a distance of 36.93m, her new personal record and now ranks No. 2 in the KCAC in the event. Andelyn Johnson also earned a top 10 mark in the women's javelin with a throw of 29.90m.
 
D'Myia Cox broke her personal record in the women's long jump with a leap of 5.25m, a distance that was good for 14^th place overall at the meet.
 
Day 3
 
Saturday proved to be a jam-packed day as the remaining field events were completed, as well as the rest of the running events. 
 
Andelyn Johnson took 20^th in the women's discus with a throw of 32.75m, while Joshua Garcia threw a personal best of 42.76m to finish in the top five at fifth place overall on the men's side.
 
D'myia Cox smashed her previous personal record in the women's triple jump with a final leap of 11.46m, a distance that was good enough to earn her third place overall. 
 
The Bluejay men's 4x100m relay team consisting of Jordy Dolloff, Ali Cannon, Taegen Gallagher, and Brandon Geyer ran a collective time of 42.93 seconds and captured seventh place. The performance moved the group to a No. 2 ranking in the KCAC.
 
Cannon took 20^th overall in the men's 200m race with a time of 22.34 seconds, while Gallagher and Geyer both represented Tabor in the men's 400m and finished with times of 52.15 and 52.57 to earn 15^th and 19^th place respectively.
 
Head Coach Dave Kroeker was very pleased with his team's performance in Wichita, "Overall it was a very successful meet for our team!"
 
The Bluejays will be back in action this coming Friday and Saturday in Wichita at the K.T. Woodman Invitational, hosted by Wichita State. 
 
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).