Tenney breaks shot record, Findlay close

• Garrett Tenney

Garrett Tenney
• Mike Findlay

Mike Findlay
• Scott Roemmich

Scott Roemmich
• Samantha Goff

Samantha Goff
• Hope Carr

Hope Carr
• Rachel Perish

Rachel Perish

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Against elite competition, times and marks matter more than places.

That was the case for the Jamestown College indoor track and field teams on Saturday at the Bison Sports Arena.

The Jimmie women had just three placers, but racked up 19 PRs — nine of them in jumps and vaults.

“We just made a lot of progress in areas that don’t show up at the top of the results sheet in a meet like this,” said JC women’s coach Jim Clark.

Jimmie men’s coach Ed Crawford liked what he saw, too.

“I think it’s a really good thing for our athletes to go to a meet like that and compete against that level of competition,” Crawford said. “We’re trying to coach our kids to where we can get them to nationals, and potentially be All-Americans, and to be able to measure yourself against Division I and II athletes and have the courage and not be afraid to compete against them is really good for our kids.”

Garrett Tenney and Mike Findlay didn’t shy away from the competition.

Tenney set a new Jamestown College record in the shot put with a mark of 52-4, beating the old mark by a centimeter. Findlay nearly did the same thing, finishing right behind Tenney at 52-3.25, just a centimeter off the old standard.

In the same event, Michael Brousseau also set a big lifetime best of 49-7.

“Coach (Kathryn) Lemm does a phenomenal job with our throwers year-in and year-out,” Crawford said. “To have three guys have PRs and two of them almost break the record is a pretty special day.”

Freshman Samantha Goff made a run at winning the 1,000-meter run, but settled for a strong second in 3:07.38.

Taylor Brown led a strong day for the jumpers, coached by Andrew Gideon. Brown got over 5-3 to tie for third.

The top finish for the men came in the 4x4 relay as Kaleb Garcia, John Tyler Petsch, Scott Roemmich and Kendall Wiltzen all ran legs in a third-place time of 3:27.13.

“Every one of them had season-best times,” Crawford said. “It was a pretty nice effort all the way around.”

Trisha Sem and Courtney Kjeldgaard had PRs in the long and triple jumps. Same was true for Josie Bopp, Nikki Iverson and Brittany Popp in the triple.

Pole-vaulters Emerald Gyuricza (10-2), Nichole Johansen (8-8.25) and Bopp (8-2.50) all PRed.

Taylor Miller, Hope Carr and Rachel Perish led the 4x400 relay team to a season-best 2:29.08. Kayla Schumacher rounded out the quartet.

Perish (2:29.08) had another lifetime best in the 800, too. Carr and Miller also had individual PRs in the 60 hurdles (9.75) and 200, respectively.

Sheyenne Stewart, a freshman, had her two top times in the 60 hurdles (10.22) and 400 (64.14).

Alyssa Sanders and Kayla Byle did the same in the 400 and 4x4.

“We had a lot of kids improve times and that should improve confidence and motivation going into our last indoor meet and more importantly into our outdoor season.”

Scott Roemmich and Garcia each had PRs in the 60 hurdles for the men, placing seventh and eighth. Trent Roemmich, a national-qualifier last outdoor season, ran for the first time as he tries to overcome a hamstring injury suffered during football season.

Connor Doppler shaved 11 seconds off his best time in the 5K (16:39.36). Lance Johansen also set another PR in the 200 in 23.64.

They were without several key contributors as well, including former Blue Jay Spencer Kamoni, who has come just short of qualifying for nationals in the 1,000 meters, but came down with influenza.

“Our season is short, so it’s tough when kids are out, but overall we’ve done some really good things up to this point,” Crawford said.

The Jimmies wrap up the indoor season on Thursday at the Bemidji Twilite Meet.

Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at dselvig@jamestownsun.com

Tags: college sports, track and field, sports, jimmies, track