DES MOINES, Iowa — Dakota Wesleyan Men's & Women's Track & Field traveled to Iowa to compete in both the Drake Relays and the Grand View Viking Classic, both located in Des Moines.
On Wednesday and Thursday, April 22nd and 23rd, the Tigers would be represented by Dani Deffenbaugh and Riley Jones in the heptathlon at the Drake Relays against some of the best competition the pair has seen all season, including multiple NCAA Division I athletes. Deffenbaugh would place 11th out of 18 competitors with a final total score of 4285, placing her near the top-20 in the heptathlon in the NAIA overall, including a top-five finish in the javelin portion of the contest with a mark of 33.21m. Jones would place 13th in the heptathlon, with her best performance coming in the long jump, recording a 5.03 and placing 10th out of the rest of the field.
Across town on Friday, April 24th, the rest of the team competed at the Viking Classic, hosted by NAIA competitor Grand View. The men's roster had a top finish from Quenton Walls in the triple jump with a 13.48m leap, hitting the new #77 mark in the NAIA. He was joined in the triple jump by Sean DeBlieck, who placed fourth with an 11.89m, and made appearances in the 100m and 4x100m relay alongside Trevor Sladky, Dustin Lemaster, and Quincy Stephens. The relay team would place second, recording a 43.64-second time as a group. Sladky would also go on to compete in the long jump, placing sixth with a 6.22m mark, while Lemaster recorded a sixth-place finish of his own in the 800m, hitting the sub-two-minute mark with a 1:59.49. Stephens would place 18th in the 100m and seventh in the long jump, leaping 6.17 meters in his best attempt. Maxwell Raab placed third in the javelin with a 47.36m throw, while, in the pole vault, Carter Harris and Talan Heezen were able to record top-five finishes, with Harris claiming third at 3.90m and Heezen placing fifth at 3.75m, respectively. The men's effort was rounded out on the track by Kellen Brozik, who placed fourth in the 400m with a 52.25-second performance, and an eighth-place finish in the 800m, alongside Cashus Hunter, who recorded a 12.68 in the 100m.
The women's team also had a solid showing at GVU, with the top DWU placement coming from Stacy Ruelas-Hertz, who had an impressive second-place finish in the 100m hurdles with a 15.92, alongside a fourth-place finish in the 200m with a 27.37-second time. She was joined in the 200m by Aubrey Cumming, who placed sixth in the event, and recorded a top-five finish in the 100m with a time of 13.29. Hailey Oswald posted a third-place finish in the 400m with a 1:05.30, and would compete on the field in the javelin, placing eighth with a 31.00 mark. Rounding out the effort on the track would be Ashlyn Maldonado, who posted a fifth-place, 2:53.59 finish in the 800m, alongside Ella Pollreisz, who placed third in the 3000m steeple, tallying a 13:18.29 in the strenuous effort. Samantha Kludt joined Oswald in the javelin, placing 10th with a 29.29m throw, and would also record a 16th-place finish in the discus and a ninth-place finish in the hammer throw, capping off her best effort with a 42.32m mark. Shirley Huckins continues her impressive freshman campaign with a fifth-place, 41.02m throw in the discus, putting her 48th in the NAIA in the event, and also tallied 19th- and 11th-place finishes in the hammer throw and shot put, respectively. Devin Hongslo closed out DWU's total effort with respectable efforts in the discus and hammer throw, and posted a top-10 finish in the shot put with a best heave of 10.98m.
DWU Track & Field will be back in action at the GPAC Outdoor Championships down in Fremont, Nebraska, at Midland University starting on Friday, May 1st. See the full 2025-26 schedule here.