School record long jump one of many successes for SWCC track

CRESTON — Three meets into the outdoor portion of their season, Southwestern Community College track and field coach Scott Vicker says he likes the strides both his men and women’s teams have made on the track and in field events.

A few lingering injuries are keeping the Spartans back from their fullest potential at this time, however Vicker feels the team will be in ideal form when it comes time for them to compete at regionals May 1-2 in Council Bluffs.

“The kids who have been able to compete and practice consistently, they’ve been performing really well,” Vicker said. “They’ve been getting better each week. That has been a huge positive for us.”

Perhaps the biggest storyline to date for SWCC has been sophomore Roland Hure, who is excelling in the long jump. At the team’s third outdoor meet, last weekend at Grand View University, Hure leapt 6.88 meters, good enough to beat a school record set by Ronald Henderson in 2018.

“He won the competition quite easily, honestly — by 21 centimeters,” Vicker said.

A native of Papua New Guinea, Hure wasn’t able to get back to the United States for the fall semester, so he just arrived back in Creston in January. Vicker says Hure wasn’t really able to train in his homeland, so that makes his latest achievements perhaps more impressive.

“It’s just taken him a little time to get back into a groove for long jump,” Vicker said. “He just needed a few more repetitions on the runway and he’s taken some big strides in these last two weeks, which we’re happy to see.”

Other highlights for the Spartans last weekend included Josh Baudler, who was second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:33.69) and Benjamin Aliel who was second in the 400-meter dash (50.15 seconds). York Miles was fourth in the 800-meter run (2:00.90), Nyle Buchan fifth in the 100 (10.87 seconds) and seventh in the 200 (22.53), and Anthony Marks sixth in the 110-meter high hurdles (16.31 seconds).

A relay Vicker is particularly excited for is the 4x100 quartet (Hure, Justin Cunningham, Aliel and Buchanan) which took fourth last weekend in 43.62 seconds, and the group has already qualified for next week’s Drake Relays.

“[The 4x100 has] been held back for a couple of weeks here because of some injuries, but for Saturday’s meet we changed up who was on it and gave it a try,” Vicker said. “I think we’re on the right track, we just need Justin to get back healthy 100% and I think that’s a relay that can do some really good things for us.”

There are also several local athletes competing for the Spartans this spring who Vicker is glad to have in the fold, like freshman Jacob French of Bedford who has added a full meter onto his long jump thus far; Shenandoah graduate Nicholas Mather who has recorded 15 straight personal records in all race distances indoor and outdoor, or Nodaway Valley graduate Josh Baudler who is improving and has an outside shot of making nationals in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Connor Eaton, a sophomore from Mount Ayr, is sidelined with an injury.

“Obviously, they wanted to have an opportunity to continue competing, so we’re glad to give them that opportunity,” Vicker said. “Connor is done for the season unfortunately with a hamstring injury, but everybody else has been making really good improvements all season long, so we’ve been excited about that.”

The womens team has just one member, sophomore heptathlete Fane Sauvakacolo, who has competed well in those events for the second week in a row.

“We were hoping she would improve her point total from the previous week at Central. The weather just didn’t cooperate with that. She posted almost the exact same score, but it was good to see her improve in some of her weaker events. We saw the improvement we needed to see out of her,” Vicker said, noting she dropped her time in the 100-meter hurdles and increased her distance in the javelin and shot put.

“We’re on the right track in those events,” Vicker said. “We just need to keep working on the high jump. We knew she’s going to do really good in the 200 and the long jump. She’s a gamer, so she’ll get out and compete in the 800 in the last event too.”

Southwestern competes again in Oskaloosa this weekend for the Statesman Invite hosted by William Penn University.