Men's Track and Field Wins Outdoor Conference Crown

Men's Track and Field traveled down the road to Hastings to compete at the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Championships on Friday and Saturday. The championships returned to Hastings for the first time since 2016 and the team champion crowned then was the same school in 2025, the Doane Tigers.

The Tigers posted 233.5 points in this year's meet, the most since the 2021 championships. Athletes playing in the Top 8 of individual events and Top 3 of relay events earn all-conference honors.

Zach Turner made the most of his final conference meet appearance, setting the standard for all future hurdlers. In the 110m hurdles, he posted a GPAC meet record time of 13.77 in winning his fourth 110m hurdles conference title. He followed in the 400m hurdles with a time of 49.99 to not only win the event but also set the GPAC meet record, the Doane school record, and the NAIA record. His time is also 11th-fastest in collegiate track and field this year, regardless of division. For Turner, he closed out his career winning a GPAC championship in 12 of the 13 hurdles races he competed in between indoors and outdoors.

Andrew Brown took second in the 110m hurdles with a time of 14.30. Andrew Harms placed seventh with a time of 15.37 and Zach Fox was eighth with a time of 15.40. In the 400m hurdles, Brown took second with a time of 53.37 and Fox was fourth with a time of 54.45.

In the 100m, JaDae Moore placed third with a time of 10.87 in the finals. Joaquin Gutierrez won the 400m with a time of 47.51. Emmanuel Yego took third in the 800m with a time of 1:54.51 with Michael Grigsby placing fourth in a time of 1:55.46.

Grigsby placed fifth in the 1500m with a time of 3:56.06. Nelson Ruto placed third in the 5000m with a time of 15:17.42. Jayden Wall took fourth with a time of 15:28.97 and Porter Bickley was eighth in a time of 15:53.80. Ruto added a second place finish in the 10,000m with a time of 31:33.88.

The 4x100m relay team of Devon Jackson, Moore, Ryland Garretson, and Dalton Whisenhunt placed third with a time of 41.29. The 4x400m relay team of Jonathan Zoubek, Yego, Gutierrez, and Caleb Mulder placed third with a time of 3:16.40. The 4x800m relay team of Yego, Will Dawes, Luke Bonifas, and Grigsby placed second with a time of 7:41.83.

Christopher Brown picked up a second place finish in the discus with a throw of 49.96m (163-11). Cale Bessler took third with a throw of 48.10m (157-09). Trey Dickey placed fifth with a toss of 46.75m (153-04). Andrew Englund finished in sixth with a throw of 45.97m (150-10) and Jaden Vollenweider placed eighth with a throw of 44.73m (146-09).

Andrew Schmitz won the hammer throw with a mark of 58.94m (193-04). Dickey placed second with a throw of 57.68m (189-03). Tad Dimmitt finished seventh with a throw of 51.74m (169-09). Schmitz placed third in the shot put with a throw of 16.15m (53-00.00). Colton Dillon took fifth with a mark of 15.44m (50-08.00). Bessler finished in sixth with a toss of 15.27m (50-01.25) and Dimmitt placed eighth with a throw of 15.07m (49-05.50).

In the long jump, Brian Cech placed third with a mark of 7.10m (23-03.50). Harms finished fifth with a leap of 7.00m (22-11.75). Cech took second in the triple jump with a distance of 14.50m (47-07.00). Kyler Nichols was third with a mark of 14.48m (47-06.25). Brown finished fifth with a leap of 14.28m (46-10.25) and Callan McKinney was seventh with a mark of 14.04 (46-00.75).

Drew Garrison placed third in the pole vault with a mark of 4.50m (14-09.00). Ashton Pulliam cleared 4.05m (13-03.50) to place eighth. In the high jump, Peyton Herrick placed second with a mark of 2.01m (6-07.00) and Harms was fourth based on attempts at the same height. Jackson Kessler placed fifth with a clearance of 1.96m (6-05.00) and Cooper Girmus placed sixth with a mark of 1.91m (6-03.25). 

Mason Crumbliss placed seventh in the javelin with a throw of 50.26m (164-10). In the decathlon, Devin Jepson placed fifth with 4,883 points.