Of the four possible categories, the Central College men’s track and field team was given the Central region Coach, Field Athlete and Track Athlete of the Year honors this week.

Head coach Joe Dunham was named the region’s Coach of the Year while Will Daniels and Mark Fairley were given the Field and Track Athlete of the Year recognition, respectively. Dunham, in his tenth year at Central, led the team to a 28-point margin of victory at the Iowa Conference outdoor championships, outdoing pre-conference projections of a second-place finish. It’s the seventh outdoor league title for Dunham and 11th overall in track and field.

As a team, Central is fifth in the region and No. 24 nationally. Daniels scored in four field events at the Iowa Conference outdoor championships, scoring 26 points for the Dutch en route to a team championship. He earned all-Iowa Conference plaudits for winning the high jump and finishing third in the pole vault. His decathlon mark of 6,673 points is ranked fourth nationally so far this season.

Fairley has the nation’s top time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 8 minutes, 57.39 seconds. He is one of just two Division III athletes to go under nine minutes in that event this season. Fairley also is ranked fifth in the Central Region in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:52.95. He was the Iowa Conference champion in both events. Daniels, Fairley and senior Ryan Kruse will represent Central at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships this weekend in La Crosse, Wisconsin.