Three Place-Winners for Dutch Women’s Wrestling Team at Loras Open

Highlighted by a runner-up finish from freshman Laura Totty, the Central College women’s wrestling had a trio of top-four finishes Saturday at the Loras Open. Central had six wrestlers in action amongst the eight Division III programs competing, and no team scores were kept.

Totty started her day with a pair of wins by decision, taking down Argelis Hernandez Perez of the University of Dubuque 4-3 and Lauren Nicholas of the Iowa State University Wrestling Club 5-2. She was pinned in the final by Dubuque’s Merin Yates. At 145 pounds, Madilyn Rowson was third place with a 3-1 record. She won twice by fall, including in the third-place match against Lana Zimmerman of the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point. Esther Belzer went 3-2 at 138 pounds, also recording two pins en route to fourth place. Dakota Cornell also went 2-2 at 160 pounds.

Central travels to Des Moines for the Grand View Open next Saturday at 1 p.m.

Central Women’s Track and Field Takes 1st, Men 2nd at Grinnell Invitational

Seven first-place performances spearheaded the Central College women’s track and field team’s championship at the Grinnell Invitational Saturday. The Dutch women totaled 178 points to best the hosting Pioneers by 60 points, while men piled up 105 points en route to a second place finish.

Ava Parkins was key to three different event championships for Central. She won the 60-meter dash (7.74 seconds) and 200-meter dash (25.58) while also anchoring the winning 4×400-meter relay performance (3:57.03). Olivia Bohlen ran the opening leg of the winning 4×400-meter relay team and won the 60-meter hurdles in 9.09 seconds. Alivia Roerdink and Emily McMartin were also on the relay team.

Kale Purcell swept the men’s triple jump and long jump, recording winning marks of 47-0.76 and 21-6.25. Other event champions for Central were James Brant in the men’s mile (4:24.76), Peyton Steffen in the women’s 5,000-meter run (17:26.23), Roerdink in the women’s 400-meter dash (59.42), and Maddy Stevens in the women’s 3,000-meter run (10:07.64)

Central is headed to Waverly for the Wartburg Indoor Select next weekend.

Central Starts Men’s Tennis Schedule with Three Duals

Splitting up its roster and going in two different directions, the Central College men’s tennis team was 0-3 on the first competition day of the spring semester.

The Dutch (0-3) wanted to maximize the opportunities for its young roster to get matches and split between a pair of locations. In Rochester, Minnesota, Central fell to Bethel University (Minn.) 6-1. No. 1 singles player Bodi Kortz was the lone Dutch winner with a 6-3, 0-6, 13-11 victory. In Cedar Rapids, the Dutch dropped a pair of 7-0 matches against Coe College and Carthage College (Wis.)

Central hosts the Milwaukee School of Engineering and Grand View University in a triangular starting at 10 a.m. next Saturday.