Freshmen Blade Westaby arches over the pole in the high jump at the UD Invite.

The men’s and women’s track-and-field teams will be competing in the Iowa Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship beginning today in Storm Lake.

By the way the Duhawks performed this past weekend, it appears they are ready for the big meet. The women’s team finished first at the Spartan Open at the  University of Dubuque, outperforming nine other teams. In the meantime, the men placed second among 13 teams.

In addition, junior Danielle McNally qualified for the NCAA Division III Indoor National Championship in the weight throw.

Coach Bob Schultz said most of the other conference teams seem to excel in specific areas. He believes his teams are more balanced than many of the others.

“Our goal is a top-three finish for both our men and women,” he said. “For both the men and women, we are well-rounded. We don’t have 1 or 2 areas that carry the team like some of the other conference schools.”

The men’s competition at the conference meet appears to be a wide-open fight to the finish.

“It’s going to be a battle, and we are going to have to look towards the seniors to lead and underclassmen to be ready,” senior Scott Schemmel said. “We especially are looking towards the distance men to continue their performances from this past weekend.”

In the women’s competition at the conference meet, Loras knows it would take a Herculean effort to even come close to Wartburg, which is the No. 1-ranked team in NCAA Division III.

Nonetheless, junior Laura Rieger is looking at the conference meet as an opportunity.

“We all need to put in all of our effort, and leave it out all on the track, throwing ring, pit, etc.,” she said. “We need to perform like we know we can. It will be close, exciting races at Buena Vista this weekend.”

At the UD meet, senior Mary Bridget Corken won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:18.57, and she was followed by junior Tara Kilburg and first-year Maria Kalb, who placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

Senior Barb Kremer won the 55-meter hurdles. Kremer also was third in the long jump, and her leap of 5.18 meters was the eighth-best jump in Loras history. She already has earned a berth at Nationals with a time of 8.45 seconds in the 55 hurdles.

Rieger won the 400-meter dash and recorded the eighth-fastest time in Loras history, 1:00.08. She was followed closely by first-year Kalee Schilling, who placed third with a time of 1:02.64 minutes.

Senior Hannah Weiss was the runner-up in the mile run. Sophomore Kathleen Loftus finished third in the 200-meter dash and placed fourth in the triple jump, while first-year Kirsten Ferch was fifth in the triple jump.

The women’s 4×200-meter relay team was victorious with a time of 1:52.56, and the 4×400-meter relay team won with a time of 4:09.85.

In the field events, McNally won the weight throw and qualified for Nationals with a distance of 16.07 meters, which also was the fourth-best toss in school history. McNally also was the runner-up in the shot put.

Sophomore Bridget McQuillan was third in the pole vault and recorded the sixth-best vault in Loras history with a height of 2.93 meters. First-year Caitlin Groeper was third in the high jump, and sophomore Steph Schadl and first-year Cassie Thill tied for fifth.

In the meantime, the top performers for the men at the UD meet were  Schemmel, who placed second in the 400-meter dash, while senior Chris Swift finished fourth in the 400. Junior Dain Leytem earned fourth place in the 3,000 meter run and first-year Tim Derr came in third in the 55-meter hurdles. Junior Graham Carl was third in the high jump while senior Jesse Ernst finished fifth. Junior Steve Neukum came in fifth in the pole vault, and junior Sean Campbell finished fifth in the weight throw.

This weekend’s meet obviously is the biggest meet so far this season. But with the outdoor season looming on the horizon, there’s plenty of competition left this year.

Schultz still is putting his emphasis on day-to-day, week-to-week improvement from his squads, and he praised a few Duhawks for their efforts thus far.

“(Sophomore) Meggen Elsen and (junior) Sean Campbell in the throws, (junior) Tom Henders in our distance events, and our women’s events are much improved from a year ago,” Schultz said.