The Friends University indoor track and field program broke two meet records, two school records, and qualified 4 athletes for the NAIA Indoor National Meet as both teams brought home a 3^rd place finish at the 3^rd Annual KCAC Indoor Championships at Ahearn Fieldhouse on the campus of Kansas State University this last weekend. The women posted 102 points as a team, behind McPherson (126) and Southwestern (151) and the men posted 109 points, behind McPherson (121) and Southwestern (127). The Falcons as a team brought home seven individual Conference Champions.

The Women's 60M brought out the best in the conference with 3 athletes hitting the National Standard of 7.85 and the Conference Record was broken 3 different times, twice by Friends own Angie Vailas. Vailas, a freshman from Wichita, KS (Kapaun Mt. Carmel HS) broke the conference record with a time of 7.74 in the prelims, only to re-break her own record in the finals with a time of 7.70. This time was 0.15 seconds faster than the runner-up and moved her up to 11^th in the NAIA National Standings. The Men's 60M was just as exciting as another Falcon – Dexter Davis brought home the KCAC Championship in a personal best, and National Qualifying time of 6.94 seconds. The difference between 1^st and 6^th was only 1/10^th of a second.

Freshman Maxwell Burley (Ponca City HS) set the other meet record for the Falcons in his National Qualifying time of 1:57.22 in the Men's 800M. Burley led the race from the end of the first lap and won in dramatic fashion beating 2^nd place by almost 4 whole seconds. A photo finish declared another Conference Champion for the Falcons as Brock Nooney (Campus HS) brought home the 600M Crown in a time of 1:24.15. Nooney edged out 2^nd place by .01 seconds. The women's distance squad was led by senior Rachel Renken (Downs, KS) as she placed 1st in the 3000M, 2nd in the Mile, and 3rd in the 800M to lead the women's team in scoring with 25 points. Mitch Heller also ran well for the distance men by running a personal best in the mile of 4:27.95 and placing 3rd in a very exciting finish.

The jumps were led by junior Dylan Biedron (Bishop Carroll HS) as he placed 5^th in the Long Jump (20'10), 3^rd in the Triple Jump (42'7") and took home the Conference Championship in the High Jump with a clearance of 6'3.25". Kaitlyn Keck brought home the Falcons 4^th National Qualifying performance in the meet by jumping a personal best and conference runner-up performance of 35'10" in the Triple Jump on her final attempt of the finals. That jump took her from 4^th to 2^nd and put her on the awards stand. Abby Simon (Freshman from Andale, KS) was the highest placing female in the Long Jump with a 4^th place jump of 16'7". The Pole Vault completion concluded with silver medals for the Falcons top vaulters. Brooke Doerksen (sophomore from Wichita, KS) was the runner up in the women's competition with a Jump of 10'3" and Zack Griffiths (freshman from Desoto, KS) placed 2^nd for the men with a clearance of 13'7.25".

The Weight Throw was dominated by Friends University on the men's side as 3 Falcons placed in the top 6 scoring positions. John Burba took home 2^nd place (46'3.5") Emmanuel Aceves took 3^rd (45'11.25") and Nathan Thompson took 6^th (43'9"). The highest placing relay for Friends came from the Men's 4x800M of Mitch Heller, Peyton Wade, Brock Nooney, and Max Burley. The relay placed 2^nd running a time of 8:02.60. The National Standard is 8:00 which gives the falcons a great opportunity to take their relay to a last chance meet in an effort to qualify for the NAIA National Meet in Ohio in early March.

Head Women's Track and Field Coach, Cole Davis had these remarks on the meet. "It is always tough to come up short in the team title race, it is our goal year in and year out to win the conference meet. However, the performances that we put together on both the men's and women's side were nothing short of spectacular. Our athletes laid their bodies on the line each and every event and as coaches we could not ask for anything more out of them. Angie continues to improve each and every meet and I would put her up against any sprinter in the NAIA right now, she is a competitor in every sense of the word. We added 3 more national qualifiers in Dexter Davis (60M), Kaitlyn Keck (Triple Jump) and Max Burley (800m). All of these athletes have produced tremendous gains from the beginning of the season and we are excited to see where they will end up at the National Meet in March. Our ladies have won 4 straight outdoor titles, and the men have won back to back as well – I would never count us out of the title race. We are ready for Outdoor."

Head Men's Track & Field Coach, Damian Smithhisler added these comments. "What an incredibly exciting meet! Every event seemed to provide exciting finishes and big marks. We had so many outstanding performances. Although the men finished 3^rd, we were right there in the mix until the end. 18 points is a much closer gap than it may appear to most people. We were basically a couple of performances away from the title. Still couldn't be more proud about how well our coaches and athletes came together over such a short season and put forth these great efforts. Most will turn their attention to preparing for the outdoor season now, but I'm excited to see a few more athletes get qualified for, and compete at, indoor nationals in Geneva, OH in early March."

Friends University All-Conference (1st place through 3rd place) and All-Conference Honorable Mention Performances (4the place through 6th place)

60M

(1) – 6.94 – Dexter Davis – MEET CHAMPION, NATIONAL QUALIFIER
(5) – 7.03 – Sequente Marks

(1) – 7.70 – Angie Vailas – MEET CHAMPION, NATIONAL QUALIFIER, MEET RECORD, FRIENDS RECORD
(5) – 8.06 – Abby Simon

60H

(1) – 8.62 – Lewis Taylor – MEET CHAMPION
(6) – 9.11 – Jack Strickland

(3) – 9.43 – Madison Behny
(4) – 9.65 – Connor Reh
(6) – 9.96 – Kaitlyn Keck

200M

(4) – 22.91 – Dexter Davis
(6) – 23.18 – Juante Baldwin

(2) – 26.12 – Angie Vailas
(5) – 26.60 – Abby Simon

600M

(1) – 1:24.15 – Brock Nooney – MEET CHAMPION

(4) – 1:46.02 – Kaitlyn Keck

800M

(1) – 1:57.22 – Maxwell Burley – MEET CHAMPION, NATIONAL QUALIFIER, MEET RECORD

(3) – 2:30.57 – Rachel Renken

1000M

(6) – 3:25.23 – Sydney Roy

MILE

(3) – 4:27.95 – Mitch Heller

(2) – 5:27.68 – Rachel Renken

3000M

(1) – 11:02.90 – Rachel Renken – MEET CHAMPION

4x400M

(5) – 3:36.44 – Lewis Taylor, Trevor Biedron, Brock Nooney, Max Burley

(4) – 4:21.22 – Abby Simon, Ellie Newlin, Brooke Doersken, Kaitlyn Keck

4x800M

(2) – 8:02.60 – Mitch Heller, Peyton Wade, Brock Nooney, Max Burley

(4) – 10:10.59 – Ellie Newlin, Natasha Burley, Sydney Roy, Rachel Renken

4000M DMR

(5) – 11:44.44 – Andrew Means, Kris Mayele, Max Burley, Brooks Rummery

(5) – 13:51.26 – Brooke Zimmerman, Maggie Newlin, Natasha Burley, Sydney Roy

HIGH JUMP

(1) – 6'3.25" – Dylan Biedron – MEET CHAMPION

(3) – 4'11.75" – Kaitlyn Keck
(6) – 4'7.75" – Madison Behny

LONG JUMP

(5) – 20'10.50" – Dylan Biedron

(4) – 16'7.25" – Abby Simon
(5) – 16'4.50" – Kaitlyn Keck
(6) – 16'0.50" – Connor Reh

TRIPLE JUMP

(3) – 42'7.50" – Dylan Biedron
(6) – 40'10.25" – Trevor Biedron

(2) – 35'10.50" – Kaitlyn Keck – NATIONAL QUALIFIER

POLE VAULT

(2) – 13'7.25" – Zack Griffiths
(6) – 11'7.75" – Kyle Helberg

(2) – 10'3.25" – Brooke Doerksen

WEIGHT THROW

(2) – 46'3.50" – John Burba
(3) – 45'11.75" – Emmanuel Aceves
(6) – 43'9" – Nathan Thompson