Southwestern freshman Chase Oates etched his name in the record book yet again Friday night, easily surpassing the school record in the men's 5,000 meters at the Washburn Open.
The freshman from Columbia Heights, Minnesota, was racing the 5K distance for the first time in his career.
Oates ran a smart race, moving up through the pack to finish second in his heat with a time of 15:59.85, taking 28 seconds off the previous school record (16:28.30 in 2017) held by Kevin Dietrich. Oates needed to run a 30-second final lap on the 200-meter banked track to break 16 minutes.
"I couldn't have asked Chase to run a better race tactically," said Scott Vicker, director of cross country/track & field. "He executed the race plan to perfection and gave himself a chance to get under 16 minutes, which was our big goal for the day. He gave that last lap everything he had."
Oates ran mile splits of 5:04, 5:13, and 5:12 over the 3.1-mile race, including a 16-second PR over 3200 meters en route to his final time. It was his second race of the evening, after anchoring the Spartan distance medley relay team with a 4:40 split over 1,600 meters.
His Columbia Heights high school teammate, Jonathon Hackett, had a strong weekend for the Spartans competing in his first ever heptathlon.
Hackett posted PRs in three of his four events on Friday (60 meter dash, high jump, and shot put) and then started Saturday's portion of the competition with another PR in the 60 meter hurdles. He cleared 2.30 meters in the pole vault in his first time ever competing in the event, and finished the competition with the seventh-fastest 1,000 meters in program history to end the contest with 3,700 points, which currently ranks 18th in the country.
He was the top JUCO competitor in the field.
"I'm so proud of Hackett for how he approached his first heptathlon. The biggest thing in the multis is taking it one event at a time and not getting caught up in what still lies ahead," Vicker said. "You'd have thought Hackett had done this several times before with as calm as he was throughout the two days. He looked like he belonged against much older competition from the four-year schools there. He has the potential to surpass the 4,000-point mark easily."
Sophomore Justin Cunningham continued his strong season, winning his preliminary heat of the 60 meter dash with a time of 6.81 seconds to take the second-fastest qualifying time into finals. In finals, a false start that was not called kept Cunningham from placing second. Still, he finished third with the second-best time of his career - 6.79 seconds.
Sophomore Robert Norton ran the No. 4 indoor time in program history in the 400 meter dash, clocking a 50.92. Norton, Hackett, Ben Olson, and Cunningham teamed up on the 4x400 relay and cut 5 seconds off the team's best time of the season, running 3:26.47, which currently ranks 25th in the country.
For the Spartan women, Molly Venteicher proved once again she is one of the best throwers in the country.
The sophomore from Massena placed in the top eight in both throwing events, against mostly NCAA Division I and Division II competition. Venteicher, who is ranked third nationally in the weight throw, put all six of her throws in the competition over the 15-meter mark, bringing her season total to 11 throws over 15 meters. The rest of the NJCAA has a combined total of seven throws over 15 meters.
"Molly is by far the most consistent thrower in the country when it comes to the weight throw," Vicker said. "She just proved that once again Friday night. To get all six throws in bounds and over 15 meters is an impressive accomplishment. She just continues to get better and better."
Venteicher also finished eighth in the shot put competition with a best put of 12.83 meters.
Sophomore Grace Massier ran a new PR in the 60 meter dash qualifying round of 8.34 seconds, while sophomore Jena Yonker just missed a PR by .02 seconds, running 8.50. Parker Evans also narrowly missed a PR in the long jump, coming up 4 cm short with her best jump of 4.32 meters.
The Spartans return to action this weekend with a small group of athletes traveling to South Dakota State University for the SDSU Indoor Classic on Saturday. The full squad competes in the Region XI Championships at Buena Vista University on Feb. 17-18.
