Brookings, South Dakota — The Dordt University men’s track and field team’s outstanding indoor season continued this weekend at the SDSU Indoor Classic held in Brookings, S.D. The Defenders set three more school records and six entries met the auto mark for the upcoming NAIA Indoor Championships.
The first school record fell in the Defenders final race on Friday night as the distance medley won the event with the No.2 time in the NAIA (10:01.6). The team of Joe Anderson, Payton Mauldin, Jebadiah Merkle and Eric Steiger broke the old record (set in 2020) by two seconds.
Another Defender record fell in one of the first races on Saturday as Joe Anderson eclipsed the time in the mile. Anderson’s time of 4:12.18 bettered the previous fastest (4:16.15 by Jacob Vander Plaats in 2020) by nearly four seconds and met the ‘A’ standard once again. He placed seventh in today’s race out of 84 runners and has the No.7 time in the NAIA and fastest in the GPAC. Eric Steiger finished just behind Anderson, in ninth place, and met the ‘A’ standard as well with a time of 4:15.34, cutting a second off his previous season best. His time was also faster than the previous school record. Steiger is ranked No.5 in the GPAC and 17th in the NAIA.
Jebadiah Merkle established the Defenders third record of the meet, taking second in the 1000m with a time of 2:27.67, just ahead of the old record (2:28) set by Sam Wensink in 2016. Merkle, who met the auto mark for the second time, has the fastest time in the GPAC and ranks fourth in the NAIA.
Payton Mauldin was the lone Defender to win an individual event, taking first place in the 800m. Mauldin’s time of 1:52.34 bettered his season best, moved up to fourth in the NAIA and was just .03 seconds off the school record.
Davis Tebben began the weekend for the Defenders with a top 10 performance in the 3000m on Friday night. Tebben met the ‘A’ standard once again and bettered his previous time by nearly five seconds, crossing the finish line in 8:27.6. He sits 17th in the NAIA and No.3 in the GPAC.
The Defenders 4×400 relay team of Mauldin, Cole Zevenbergen, Grant Brouwer and Devin Bos earned a top five finish, placing fourth with a time of 3:21.1. The time is the eighth fastest in program history.
Grant Brouwer finished ninth in the high jump, clearing 1.95m (6-04.75).
The Defenders will compete in the GPAC Championships next weekend in Crete, Neb.
