Twenty-six teams and around 975 athletes from Division I schools to junior colleges flocked to Welch Stadium at Emporia State for the State Farm ESU Relays last Saturday.
“I thought the meet went really well,” said Steve Blocker, head coach. “The teams did an awesome job. I was pretty impressed with the marks and I’m excited for Wichita State next weekend.”
Nikki Wetstein, senior health promotion major, had a provisional qualifying time of 14.15 seconds to win the 100-meter hurdles. This time is her best wind-legal time of her career. Wetstein also teamed with Carmen King, junior; Morgan Flowers, freshman, and Peyton Weiss, junior, to run a provisional qualifying 47.05 seconds in the 4×100-meter relay.
“Overall, it was an amazing experience to be a part of such a big meet, especially at home,” Wetstein said. “The fact that I won the 100 (meter) hurdles was unbelievable. There was great competition for every event and my teammates did awesome.”
A whopping 76 provisional marks were set for Division II colleges on Saturday. Chris Calle from Wichita State set a meet record at the ESU Relays, throwing a mark of 72.19 meters in the hammer throw. Erika Wiklund, who competed unattached, also broke the meet record in the women’s triple jump with a jump of 12.73 meters.
Kyle Pfizenmaier, junior, launched the javelin 65.15 meters, beating his personal record by over 24 feet. Sara Dunkin, senior, was third on the women’s side for javelin with a throw of 42.73 meters in a competitive field that had five provisional qualifiers and two automatic qualifiers.
Duke Tibbs, freshman, ran a personal record of 48.55 seconds in the 400-meter to be crowned champion of that race. He also anchored a first-place 4×400-meter relay team, which also consisted of Ryan Dickson, junior; Ashton Proctor, sophomore and Jordan Smith, sophomore. They ran a time of 3:17.59.
Payson Maydew, sophomore, placed sixth in the 110-meter hurdles, running a time of 15.19 seconds.
“The team put up some great marks. I’m really glad the weather held up once again,” Maydew, an accounting major, said. “We are all looking much better as the meets go by. I’m very excited going into this multi meet.”
ESU will host the Combined Multis today and tomorrow, before sending the team to the KT Woodman Relays at Wichita State April 11-12.