Purcell excels in Augustana triple jump

ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS —  Adding six inches to his season and career-best mark in the triple jump Wednesday is likely enough for Central College men’s track and field senior Kale Purcell (Holton, Kan.) to make another trip to the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

Purcell finished third with a leap of 48 feet, 6.25 inches at the Augustana Twilight Qualifier. He’s up to No. 16 on the qualifiers list and 22 entries will be accepted when the qualifying list is public Friday. He reset his own school record with his new mark.

The women’s 4×400-meter relay team of Danika Arnold (freshman, Glenwood), Ava Parkins (sophomore, Monmouth, Ill., Burlington Notre Dame [Iowa] HS), Alivia Roerdink (sophomore, Tiffin, Ohio, Hopewell-Loudon HS), and Emily McMartin (junior, Pella) ran the second-fastest time in program history in 3 minutes, 46.64 seconds, but it still may not be enough as the quartet sits No. 17 on the national qualifiers list. Only the top sixteen entries will go to the national meet.

Jack Brown (sophomore, Norwalk) was fourth in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:02.46 and Randy Jimenez (senior, Liberty Center, Southeast Warren HS) was fifth in 9:04.64. It was a new career-best mark for Jimenez. Brown did not improve his stock in the national qualifiers list and is near the cut line at No. 21.

Other top performances for the Dutch were women’s 400-meter runner Mary Gustason (junior, Marion, Linn-Mar HS) set a new personal-best with a time of 1:00.28, finishing 19th. Drew Peterson (senior, Iowa City, West HS) was third in the men’s 5,000 meters (16:38.96) and Emma Rocha (senior, Franklin, Wis.) was sixth in the women’s 5,000 meters (18:41.46)