LINCOLN, Neb. – Augustana College senior
Paul Yak set a new school record and provisionally qualified at the Nebraska Tune-up, while three Vikings hit provisional marks at the USD Twilight in Vermillion, S.D. on Friday.
Yak set a new school record recording the top mark in the men's 5,000-meter run provisionally qualifying with a time of 14:29.29, which ranks 15th in the nation and first in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
Nathan Hauge followed Yak's performance placing eighth with a time of 15:12.64.
"Yak [Paul] improved on his race from last weekend at the SDSU Indoor Open and took a good step forward today," head coach
Tracy Hellman said. "He has been training really well and that showed in this 5,000-meter race today. He not only has the 5,000-meter record indoors to go with his 10,000-meter record outdoors, given the history of our program, that's an exciting accomplishment."
At the USD Twilight,
CJ Ham dominated the shot put with a third place finish provisionally qualifying with a heave of 16.11 meters (52 feet, 10.25 inches), which currently ranks 31st in the nation, and second in the NSIC.
"Ham [CJ] continues to have solid performances," assistant coach
Greg Binstock said. "I have always felt consistency leads to a big breakthrough, so we will see what rises for CJ at the conference meet next week."
In the 60-meter hurdles,
Ryan Heuer provisionally qualified with a time of 8.15 to finish second-place. With this mark, Heuer ranks third in the NSIC and 25th in the nation.
"Heuer [Ryan] keeps improving every week and if that trend continues, he can perform really well at the conference championships and potentially advance to the national meet," Binstock said.
On the women's side,
Kelsey Kaufmann took third place in the high jump to provisionally qualifying with a clearance of 1.73 meters (5 feet, 8 inches). Kaufmann ranks second in the NSIC, behind teammate
Bree Woelber, and ninth in the nation.
"Kaufmann [Kelsey] has been jumping great in practice and put it together today at USD for a strong performance," Binstock said. "That mark should get her into the national meet and join Woelber [Bree] as the second Augustana athlete in the event."
