CRETE, Neb. -- Six school records and two first place finishes highlighted two days of competition for the Flames Track and Field team at the Jim Dutcher Invitational, hosted by Doane.

While the majority of the team competed in Crete, Neb. a pair of athletes - Claire Caspersen and Madalynn Rhodes - competed at the Kansas Relays on Friday.

On Friday, Caspersen had her best outing of the outdoor season as she had a season-best mark of 14.02m and finished fifth overall in the shot put. She was the top finisher from an NAIA school at the meet. Madalynn did not have a usual solid performance in the Javelin, but still finished 12^th out of 19 competitors.

Said coach Jerrid Johansen of the experience for Caspersen and Rhodes, "as juniors who have been competing at a high level for a couple of years, we thought it would be good to give Claire and Madalynn a chance to compete at a prestigious event like the Kansas Relays. Claire had a nice performance and is slowly rounding back into her form from the indoor season. Madalynn might have been a little too excited for the day, so she didn't have her best performance. Either way, the experience will be a positive one for them as they set their sights towards the GPAC championships in two weeks."

On Friday at the Jim Dutcher Invite Clare Ullery and Tavia Williams competed in the Hammer Throw. Both athletes had a successful day as Ullery bettered her own school record by throwing 39.86m, and Williams was a couple of centimeters short of her own personal best with a throw of 34.01m.

Three distance races were contested on a cool and breezy Friday night, and the six athletes who competed for the Flames had a great outing. 

• Lorena Ramirez won the 5,000m with a time of 20:09.04
• The 4x800 Relay of Natalie Briggs, Mira Fosmer, Corinne Mead, and Brooke Wigdahl lowered their school record by over 10 seconds while winning the event in 10:04.13
• Jocelyn Farhar ran the 10,000m for the first time and finished second in 44:17.07, which is a school record in the event.

"It was a small contingent that competed on Friday, but the competed at a very high level. Clare and Tavia competed with confidence and had their best day in the Hammer. And our distance athletes had a great night by winning two of three events, while setting two school records," said Johansen.

He went on to add that, "the highlight of the day for me was Jocey competing in the 10,000m. Jocey is a tremendous competitor, but she has been dealing with an injury that flares up when she must run at a faster pace. Instead of giving up on what she loves to do, she decided she would go to the opposite end of the spectrum and give the 10k a try. She ran the first half of the race with a lot of joy, and then competed well when things got hard over the last two miles. It was great to see, and I was proud of the effort she gave."

Day two of the Jim Dutcher was on Saturday and, while cool and breezy at times, the weather was better than expected.

School records on the day:

• Kellesse Heard in the Long Jump: She jumped 5.15m and broke her old record of 5.10m
• Brooke Wigdahl in the 1500m: Ran 5:12.99 as she finished third in the event.
• Allison Isaacson matched her PR and school record of 3.10m in the Pole Vault

Other top performances on the day:

• Tavia Williams set two personal bests in the shot put (11.62m) and discus (34.91m)
• Ava Hilger was near a personal best in the 200 as she ran 27.55 into a pretty strong headwind.
• Mira Fosmer finished 4^th in the 800m and was within half a second from her personal best.
• In the 1,500m Corinne Mead finished 4^th, while Kiley Craft, Kaitlyn Thalman, and Ella Miller competed very well, and all finished with new personal records.

Reflecting on the competition, coach Johansen stated that, "overall, it was a good weekend for our athletes, and we made some significant progress in our preparation over the last two weeks. It's a short turnaround before we compete again at the Nebraska Wesleyan Invite on Thursday. That's our last chance to put up a qualifying mark for the GPAC championships so it's time to for our athletes to focus on the things that they do well, and try to do them to the best of their ability."

The Flames next compete at the Prairie Wolf Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. on Thursday, Apr. 25.