STORM LAKE, Iowa — Dakota Wesleyan Track & Field headed southeast to face some of the area's top competition at Buena Vista's Dennis Young Indoor Classic, including a plethora of GPAC athletes and teams.
The women's team found its stride early in the field events, with Shirley Huckins making the biggest impact in the shot put and weight throw. The freshman out of Elko, Nevada, placed ninth overall in the shot put with a 9.95m best mark in a solid effort, but found her biggest successes in the weight throw, where she smashed her previous personal record with a throw of 16.41m, clearing her next-best mark on the season by 1.39 meters. Her mark also inches her closer to the indoor national "B" standard. Devin Hongslo placed fourth in the shot put with a best throw of 10.62m and had a respectable effort in the weight throw, while Samantha Kludt cracked the top-10 in the event with a 12.32m mark. Riley Jones and Dani Deffenbaugh set personal records in the high jump, with Jones claiming third place with a 1.52m leap, while Deffenbaugh claimed fifth with a mark of 1.37m. The pair, along with Jessica Venneberg, also found success in the long jump, with Deffenbaugh claiming eighth with a best jump of 4.55m, while Jones and Venneberg followed closely behind with 4.49m and 4.36m marks, respectively. On the track, Meghan Hutchison made her DWU track debut in the 200m, recording a 29.05-second time, and was joined in the race by Ashlyn Maldonado, who placed 16th with a 31.29-second recorded time. Hailey Oswald earned a personal record in the 800m, crossing the finish line at 2:34.86, earning her 10th place overall. Aubrey Cumming placed sixth in the 60m dash with an 8.52-second mark to round out a solid effort from the women's roster.
The men's team also produced an event winner, as Quenton Walls won the men's triple jump with a best recorded mark of 13.13m. He was able to claim eighth place in the long jump as well with a 5.96m mark, while Trevor Sladky and Sean DeBlieck placed just behind him in ninth and 10th with marks of 5.79m and 5.42m, respectively. Sladky's greatest impact was on the track, setting a personal record of 7.33 seconds and claiming 13th place in the 60m, while Mikey Hart claimed a season-best 7.14s time in qualifying, and followed it up in finals with a 7.20s, placing fifth in the event. DeBlieck finished 16th in the 60m with a final recorded time of 7.38 seconds. In the 400m, Kellen Brozik placed seventh with a 53.13-second time, while Dustin Lemaster posted a 2:03.89 in the 800m to round out the team's effort in the mid-distance events. Carter Harris and Talan Heezen finished seventh and eighth in the men's pole vault with recorded marks of 3.70m, and Trayton Moore rounded out DWU's performance with a personal record of 11.57m in the shotput, earning him eighth place.
DWU Track & Field will be back in action at the Concordia Classic down in Seward, Nebraska, starting on Friday, January 30th. See the full 2025-26 schedule here.