Oates sets four SWCC indoor records

Record-breaking sophomore distance runner Chase Oates and freshman hurdler Sam Foreman of CAM High School recently wrapped up Southwestern’s indoor track season by participating in the NJCAA national meet in Gainesville, Florida.

Oates was a national qualifier in the 1,000 meters and placed 18th overall in the national event. The 1K was one of four events that Oates set SWCC records in during the indoor season.

Foreman was an at-large participant at nationals in the 60-meter hurdles as a prelude to what looks to be a successful outdoor season in the 110-meter hurdles in the coming weeks.

Oates ran the first 800 meters under 2:02 and finished the final 200 meters in just over 29 seconds to break his own 1K record at 2:31.68 at the NJCAA meet.

“The goal was to qualify him for the finals (top nine) and we didn’t get that,” coach Scott Vicker said, “but he ran a great race from the starting gun to the finish line.”

Vicker said race traffic prevented Oates, naturally a miler trying to race against a lot of faster 800-meter runners moving up in distance, to move in front early to take some of the sprinting kicks away from other competitors.

“He was in a really good position with 400 meters to go and making the move that I wanted him to make,” Vicker said. “He was sitting in fourth place in his heat and was going to move to the front of the pack to take the lead and try to string it out early. Going into the turn with 300 to go, the kid in third place swung out wide to make a similar move and cut Chase off. That stopped his momentum and he had to get back in line and regroup. By the time he made his move again everybody was already starting their kick.”

Oates set three other SWCC indoor records during the 2024 season, including two marks in the season opener at Maryville, Missouri in December. He broke his own record in the mile by 12 seconds, setting the new standard of 4:20.44. He followed that up by breaking his own record in the 3,000 meters in 8:59.90, becoming the first SWCC athlete to run under 9:00 indoors.

At Washburn meet, Oates broke his own record in the 5,000 meters in 15:37.09.

Those performances followed another stellar cross country season in which he was selected the Division II Athlete of the Year in Region XI, and placed 21st at the NJCAA national meet. The sophomore from Columbia Heights, Minnesota added to his legacy with one more outdoor season to go.

“We found during the indoor season that Chase Oates is still Chase Oates,” Vicker said, smiling. “He is cementing his legacy as one of, if not the best, distance runner in program history.”

Vicker said Oates will primarily compete in the 1,500 meters and 3,000-meter steeplechase during the outdoor season, but may try to break Kevin Detrich’s 2017 record of 15:37.00 in the 5,000 meters at some point.

He was just three seconds off Phoenix Shadden’s 3K steeplechase record of 9:55.76 last spring in limited attempts. He surpassed Josh Baudler’s second-place mark on the SWCC career chart by running 9:58.98. Oates already owns the outdoor 1,500 record of 4:01.07 from last season.

Foreman, meanwhile, had his own record-breaking performance in the indoor season. Foreman clocked a time of 8.68 seconds in the 60 meter hurdles at Maryville to break the school record of 8.70 seconds set by Jackson Shantz in 2014. He finished one spot short of qualifying for finals of the event, missing out by .006 seconds.

Foreman, from Anita, is a cousin of University of Iowa hurdler Gratt Reed of Atlantic, whose parents (Ricci Spriggs and Jason Reed) are Creston natives.

“Sam got out of the blocks slow to the first hurdle, and just too far behind at 60 meters,” Vicker said. “He never lost any ground after that. He’s better suited to the 110 meter hurdles outdoors. But our goal with him at nationals was to get that experience of competing at the championship level, because we think he can compete to be a national qualifier in this outdoor season.”

There were several other interesting developments during the indoor season, including a promising future in the pole vault for Ross Stephens, a Pleasantville native in Iowa, where the pole vault is no longer a sanctioned high school event. Stephens was also competing in the multi-event heptathlon at indoor meets, and showed immediate aptitude for the pole vault.

“The first day of the heptathlon at regionals didn’t go well for Ross, but he came back well on the second day and he broke the school record in the pole vault in his third time vaulting ever. He also had a PR in the 1K to close out the heptathlon, so he had a great day.”

Assistant coach Mark Evans, who serves as the jumps coach, has taken on the role of learning more about coaching the pole vault, which was an event for coach Dick Skarda’s Creston teams when he was in high school. Curt Jeffryes did much of the field event and vaulting coaching then.

Vicker said there is a vaulting pit and landing pad set up in the workout center that housed the former Wal-Mart store on Highway 34.

Sprinter Tyus Willis and distance runner Daemon Rodriguez, both coming off injuries, showed progress toward the start of outdoor meets late this month, Vicker noted. The hurdling corps in addition to Foreman includes Peyton Embree of Malvern and Stephens in the 110 hurdles, and Rouce Sayee of West Des Moines primarily in the 400 hurdles.

Jedd Weinkoetz of AG/GC High School is working to become a national qualifier in the javelin throw.

On the women’s team, Karlie Larsen of Mount Ayr has been running middle distances. The corps of throwers includes Atlantic’s Abbi Richter, Malori Leonard of Lamoni and Kasey Springer of Hampton. Richter moved into second place all-time in the indoors weight throw event at 12.43 meters, second only behind Molly Venteicher from last year’s national sixth-place season.

The weight throw is the indoor equivalent of the hammer throw, a 20-pound ball attached to a short handle to be designed for shorter distances than the hammer. The throwers also competed in the shot put indoors.

The first scheduled outdoor meet is March 28 at the Dutch Invitational hosted by Central College.

SWCC men’s roster

Sophomores — Jonathon Hackett, Columbia Heights, Minn.; Cyrus Hancock, Kansas City, Mo.; Abu Kemokai, Des Moines; Michael Mayer, Essex; Chase Oates, Columbia Heights, Minn.

Freshmen — Peyton Embree, Malvern; Sam Foreman, Massena; Nic Givens, Clarinda; Emmet Long, Afton; Daemon Rodriguez, Midlothian, Texas; Rouce Sayee, West Des Moines; Ross Stephens, Pleasantville; Jedd Weinkoetz, Panora; Tyus Willis (RS), Lincoln, Neb.

SWCC women’s roster

Sophomores — Malori Leonard, Lamoni.

Freshmen — Karlie Larsen, Mount Ayr; Abbi Richter, Atlantic; Kasey Springer, Hampton.