(HAYS, Kan.) – Three Central Missouri athletes claimed MIAA titles on the second day of competition at the MIAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Fort Hays State. Senior Brent Vogel claimed his second career decathlon title, while junior Zoe Sharplin claimed her first conference title in the heptathlon. Freshman Meelis Siimson claimed the MIAA title in the men’s long jump, winning his second individual conference title in his young career, after claiming the triple jump during the indoor championships earlier this spring.
Vogel, the NCAA Division II national champion in the indoor heptathlon this year, and the national champion in the decathlon back in 2011, battled back and forth throughout Friday and Saturday’s multi-event. The senior opened with a third-place result in the 100-meter dash, as Nebraska-Kearney’s Dillion Schrodt took the early lead after the opening event. Schrodt stretched his lead in the second event, winning the long jump while Vogel again placed third. Trailing by 92 points, Vogel won the shot put, besting Schrodt’s throw by nearly 100 points and taking the overall lead. With a narrow seven-point edge, Vogel slipped back to second after his fourth-place performance in the high jump, as Schrodt cleared one more bar. The two athletes finished 1-2 in the 400-meter dash, as Vogel edged his top competitor by just 0.29 seconds in the final event of the day. Vogel carried a 32-point deficit into competition on Saturday.
Schrodt opened the second day of the decathlon with a win in the 110 meter hurdles, although Vogel placed third to keep the score close. The Mules senior then made his move, finishing second in the discus to teammate Daniel McCarty, then outscoring Schrodt in the pole vault to take a 203-point lead, the largest gap between the two throughout the event. Schrodt picked up 37 points in the javelin, but Vogel clinched the title by beating out the Loper in the 1,500-meter run to close out the victory.
Sharplin had a more commanding route to her first outdoor MIAA heptathlon title, winning the opening 100-meter hurdles. The junior was briefly edged out by Lincoln’s Sheri-Kaye Campbell after finishing fifth in the high jump, but reclaimed the overall lead with her second-place result in the shot put. Sharplin finished the first day with a 172-point advantage over teammate Victoria Jackson after finishing third in the 200-meter dash to close out competition on Friday.
On Saturday, Sharplin placed second in the long jump and took first in the javelin to stretch her lead entering the final event. With an eighth-place result in the 800-meter run, Sharplin posted a personal record 5,069 points. Jackson finished second, earning All-MIAA honors in her first conference meet, with 4,755 points.
Siimson, who was an All-American in the long jump during the indoor season, claimed his first career MIAA outdoor title, winning the long jump with a mark of 24′ 8.25” (7.52m). That leap pushed Siimson into fifth place in the UCM record books, and eighth on the national performance list.
Sophomore Brooke Swearingin had a pair of All-MIAA performances, placing second in the discus before earning a third-place result in the hammer throw. Swearingin cleared 156′ 10” (47.80m) on her third attempt in the discus to finish as the runner up. In the hammer, Swearingin used her third attempt to throw for 161′ 2” (49.13m).
For the Mules, senior Zak Thompson came up just shy of a provisional mark, but scored points for his team with a sixth-place result in the hammer throw. Thompson threw for 177′ 1” (53.98m) on the fifth of his six throws to pick up three valuable points towards the team standings.
 
A trio of distance runners also had successful races Saturday night, led by senior Dalton Moberly in the 10,000-meters. Moberly placed third, earning All-MIAA honors with a final time of 31:40.62. Tyler Stuber also scored, placing seventh with a time of 32:01.47. For the Jennies, Megan Glamann finished fifth in the women’s 10,000-meters, with a time of 37:52.41.
On the track, a number of Mules and Jennies advanced through their preliminary heats to compete in Sunday’s finals. Joseph Holland in the 110-meter hurdles, Khaldon Evans in the 400-meters, Kellin Loch and Cole Davis in the 800-meters, Zoe Sharplin in the 100-meter hurdles, and Nikki Douglas in the 100-meter and 400-meter hurdles, will all compete for conference titles tomorrow afternoon.
At the end of the second day of competition, the Jennies hold a 32-26 lead over second place Emporia State. Pittsburg State (23 pts.), Lindenwood (18) and Missouri Southern (15) round out the top five. In the men’s standings, through five events, Pittsburg State leads with 45 points, followed by Missouri Southern (42.5), Central Missouri (24), Nebraska-Kearney (21), and Lindenwood (19).