Feb. 12, 2023 – No. 8 Loras College men's track and field competed in three separate meets over the past few days as the Duhawks continue to try and bolster their national resume, and the distance medley relay team did just that as they set a new NCAA Division III Record on Friday night in the northeast.

The event in Boston, Mass. was one of three events that the men's track team competed in this weekend, along with action at each the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

David Hemery Valentine Invitational – Boston University
The Duhawk relay team of senior Wyatt Kelly, junior Ted Kruse, senior Mike Jasa, and junior Ryan Harvey combined to run a 9:39.80 in the race at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University. That time eclipsed a one-year-old record set by John Carroll University from last February.

Loras' time is the best of them all, but it's also the latest in a string of impressive DMR times at the Division III level as each of the top five all-time indoor marks have been set in the past two seasons.

The Duhawk runners finished second in their race that featured 31 teams from programs spanning all levels of the NCAA. Only the team from Division I Monmouth University was better as the Hawks ran a 9:37.38.

Before the indoor season began, head coach Matt Jones added this event specifically with the DMR record in mind and said plainly that setting the record was the only goal for this trip to the east coast. Kelly, Kruse, Jasa, and Harvey made it happen on Friday night.

Midwest Elite Meet – UW-Whitewater
Senior sprinter Josh Smith led the Loras effort at the Midwest Elite Meet by winning the 60-meter dash with a 6.87 time in both the prelims and the finals. Smith was the only Duhawk individual to claim an event victory at Whitewater on Saturday.

One other Duhawk win came from the 4x400-meter relay team of Easton Stackis, Matthew Marcum, Carson Vaske, and Matt Kruse. The group clocked a 3:20.97 to create a two-second gap to the runners-up from Washington University (Mo.).

Vaske and Kruse each placed fourth in their respective individual races as well. Vaske ran a 22.84 in the 200-meter dash while Kruse ran an 8.42 in the finals of the 60-meter hurdles to move him to third on Loras' all-time list.

Junior Holden Murphy came just shy of a pair of wins as he placed second to Carthage College's Joseph White in both the shot put and weight throw. Murphy notched a 15.19-meter mark in the shot put and an 18.12-meter mark in the weight throw, the latter of which elipses his old school-record performance.

Junior Derik Bunten also notched a notable finish in the field as his 6.83-meter mark in the long jump placed him fifth.
 
UW-Platteville Invitational
Loras got four event wins on Saturday at Platteville, headlined by two relay wins. Blake Fitzgerrel, Michael Coy, DJ Almada, and Owen Scherff clocked a 1:34.87 in the 4x200-meter relay to edge out their competition from Clarke University.

Almada joined in on another race-winning effort as he, Hunter Rickels, Will Kieffer, and Alex Wilson clocked a 3:33.53 to win the 4x400-meter relay by just four-tenths of a second over the team from the hosting Pioneers.

Freshman Jack Beehler won the 5000-meter race over teammate Eric Rutherford with a 15:39.13, giving him the win in his first collegiate entry in that race length.

Senior Ray Venditti earned another pole vault win as well, clearing a 4.72-meter high bar for his fourth win in the event this season.

Loras splits up again next Saturday, Feb. 17 as some athletes head to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and others will stay closer to home and compete at the University of Dubuque.