The Doane men's track & field team successfully defended their conference championship on Saturday afternoon in Lincoln, scoring 190.50 points in the meet. Concordia University placed second with 117.50 points. Doane finished with seven event champions as they won their fourth straight indoor conference meet. Athletes finishing in the Top Eight earned points for their team and receive All-GPAC honors.
On the track, Doane was led by Virgil Mitchell's (Omaha) three individual first place finishes and a runner-up finish. Mitchell earned was named the GPAC Men's Athlete-of-the-Year after racking up a total of 40.5 points in the meet. He won the 60m hurdles, 200m and 400m dash, was runner-up in the 60m dash and was a member of the 4x400m relay team that won.
In the 60m dash, Doane took second through fourth places. Mitchell took second, followed by Ben McCaleb (Omaha) and Adam Bosley (Toronto, Canada). Mitchell & Bosley had NAIA automatic marks.
In the 60m hurdles, Mitchell took first with a time of 8.2807 second while Kevin Janata of Wesleyan was second with a time of 8.2870. Rob Keeney (Callaway) took seventh in the event for the Tigers.
The 200m dash saw a record fall. Mitchell broke the previous meet record, posting a time of 21.50. McCaleb posted a NAIA qualifying time with a fourth place finish and Bosley scored by placing seventh.
Mitchell hit an automatic time in the 400m dash, posting a winning mark of 48.68. Laith Etmund (Martell) placed sixth and Vince Martinez (El Paso, Tex.) finished seventh for the Tigers.
Justin Cox (Omaha) picked up a seventh place finish for the Tigers in the 800m run, posting a time of 2:00.89.
In the 1,000m run, three Tigers picked up points. Sufian Kalil (Norfolk) placed second and Scott Ohlson (Imperial) ran to a third place finish. Zach Christensen (Fremont) scored a point with an eighth place finish.
Ohlson also scored for the Tigers in the mile run. He posted a time of 4:20.94 in the event.
Paul Garcia (El Paso, Tex.) posted a third place finish in the 3,000m run and Kalil placed sixth for Doane. Garcia notched an eighth place finish in the 5,000m run.
The 4x400m relay team won with an automatic NAIA mark of 3:19.08. The team consisted of Etmund, Bosley, Mitchell and Martinez.
The 4x800m relay team placed second with an NAIA time of 7:56.17. Team members were Jamil Chehade (El Paso, Tex.), Omar Fernandez (El Paso, Tex.), Cox, and Jory Pflasterer (Grand Island).
Brett Jorgensen (Ralston) won the long jump with a mark of 7.18m (23-06.75), a NAIA mark. Brian Hubbert (Elm Creek) placed third in the triple jump with a mark of 13.97m (45-10.00).
In the high jump, Tyler Milligan (Wymore) and Derek Wegner (West Point) tied for fourth place. They each hit a mark of 1.93m (6-04.00).
Whit Thomas (York) placed fifth in the pole vault with a mark of 4.40m (14-05.25). Ethan Shunkwiler (Crete) tied for sixth based on jumps at 4.40m.
Jared Schuurmans (Norfolk) won the shot put with an automatic NAIA mark of 17.16m (56-03.75). Jacob Clouse (Friend) placed fifth, Alvin Voss (Arlington) placed sixth and Jake Eckhardt (Blue Hill) finished seventh for the Tigers.
The weight throw was hotly contested as 10 athletes posted NAIA automatic marks, however, only eight can score points. Schuurmans had the top Doane finish, placing third, while Eckhardt finished eighth in the event. Voss placed 10th with his automatic NAIA mark.
In the inaugural heptathlon, Keeney won the two-day event with 4,849 points. This is the first year that multi-events have been part of the GPAC Championship. Brad Higgins (Norfolk) placed second for Doane, 49 points behind Keeney. Dustin Schwartz (Mullen) finished fifth for the Tigers.