Northwest Missouri State enjoyed a successful start to the New Year highlighted by six top five finishes on the women’s side and a runner-up finish for Kemper Kellerstrass on the men’s side Friday at the Holiday Inn Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska.
Brittany Poole, Jordan Esry, Madison Marshman, Tasha Sherman, Ashli Mosby and Megan Elder all earned top five finishes respectively to pace the Northwest women at the Devaney Sports Center.
Esry and Marshman earned fourth and fifth place finishes and were followed closely behind by Anne Herbert, who placed sixth, in the 3,000-meter run for the Bearcats. The only NCAA runner to finish ahead of the Northwest runners was Erin Curren of Black Hills State.
Freshman Tasha Sherman took home a fourth place finish in the 5,000-meter run to complete a successful first day for the Northwest distance runners. Megan Elder earned a third place in the pole vault behind Doane College and Nebraska-Kearney.
Poole earned a fourth place finish as well in the 1-mile run with a time of 5:13.40. She was the top non-Nebraska runner to finish, as the Huskers ran to a first, second and third place close with Ashley Miller capturing the title with a time of 4:47.30.
The men’s side was highlighted by Kellerstrass whose runner-up finish in the pole vault was his highest of the year at 4.45 meters. He was behind Nebraska Wesleyan’s Jay Wall with a vault of 4.75 meters.
A quartet of distance and middle distance runners for the men earned top 10 finishes to round out Friday competition.
Taylor Overmiller came in fifth in the 800-meter run as did Ryan Darling in the 1-mile run. Darling was the top Division II runner behind a trio of runners from Minnesota, led by Nick Hutton with a time of 4:11.61 while Darling finished in 4:16.23.
The 5,000-meter run had a pair of Bearcats in the top 10 with Jared Walker in seventh and David Nilges in eighth.
The second day of action will start at noon tomorrow with the women’s pole vault, shot put, triple jump, high jump and the finals of the 60-meter hurdles and 60-meter dash. The last running event of the day, the men’s 4×400-meter relay, is set to start at 3:55 p.m.
— NWMSU Sports Information —