CHADRON, Neb. -- April 25, 2022 -- Approximately 40 Chadron State College athletes have qualified to compete at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Track and Field Championships this weekend at Black Hills State in Spearfish, Coach Riley Northrup said.  The competition will be rugged, but the Eagles expect to make their presence felt in numerous events.

The action will begin Friday morning with the decathlon for men and the heptathlon for women and continue through mid-afternoon Sunday.  Last year the CSC men finished sixth among the 12 teams with 70 points while the women were 11th among 14 teams with 16.5 points.

In late February, during the conference's indoor championships, the Eagles' men were seventh with 52 points and women were 10th with 14.5.

While the Eagles have had lots of highlights and have more than held their own in every meet so far in 2022, they have never been at full strength.

A big reason is because Naushaun Jernigan, who won the long jump at last year's RMAC Outdoor Meet by going a career-best 25 feet, 7¼ inches and then won the bronze medal at the NCAA Division II Outdoor Meet by hitting 25-1, has never been available.

Jernigan tore a knee ligament while playing in a pickup basketball game last summer in his hometown of Springfield, Mass.  He had surgery and returned to Chadron State for his third year of college, but has not competed this year. He'll still have three years of eligibility when he returns to action.

In addition, Brodie Roden, one of the Eagles' all-time great sprinters, was not available for the 2022 indoor season after sustaining a broken toe during a weight training accident last fall, followed by a lingering bout with COVID, is still not at peak form. He has qualified for the RMAC showdown this weekend in the 100 meters, but this year he has not run the 200- and 400-meter dashes, both of which he won at the 2020 RMAC Indoor Championships, where he was selected the Outstanding Male Athlete of the Meet.  

A year ago, Roden was the runner-up in the 400 and anchored the Eagles' first place 4x100 and 4x400 relays at the RMAC Outdoor Meet.  He'll undoubtedly run a leg in the shorter relay at Spearfish this weekend, but won't be on the 4x400 team, Northrup said.

The status of a third CSC standout, Morgan Fawver, is "iffy" for the conference shindig. He was forced to pass up the RMAC Indoor Meet in February because of a hamstring issue. He recovered to long jump at the National Meet two weeks later and has run the 100 in 10.70 seconds and long jumped 24-3 this month, but said last week that he's still bothered by the hamstring curse.

On the other side of the coin, the CSC men still have some outstanding sprinters, jumpers and throwers. 

The headliners are sophomore hammer throwers Dan Reynolds of Granby, Colo., and Shane Collins of Bison, S.D.  They rank one-two in their event in the RMAC as well as on CSC's all-time chart with bests of 203-6 and 197-2, respectively.  Third on the RMAC list is a throw of 186-9.

Reynolds broke the conference's weight throw record that had stood for 20 years at the indoor meet in February, and both he and Collins will be aiming to erase the hammer throw mark of 201-0 that was set by Michael Gusbeth of Western Colorado in 2007.

Another pair of young Eagles also rank high in conference's javelin standings. Quest Savery of Miles City, Mont., is second with a mark of 191-3 and Dylan Soule of Polk, Neb., is third at 190-7. 

Both Fawver in the long jump and Derrick Nwagwu of Aurora, Colo., in the triple jump are third in those events going to the conference meet.  In addition, newcomer Quincy Efeturi has come on strong in the short sprints. He won both the 100 and 200 at the Loper Invitational two weeks ago and is fifth in the latest RMAC listing in the furlong.

On the women's side, Carlie Collier of Dunning, Neb., is qualified in all of the three sprints and the 5-8 high jump by Jourdaine Cerenil of Pine Bluffs, Wyo., is second on the conference list.

Following is a complete list of the Chadron State athletes who rank among the top 10 on the current RMAC performance list:

Men's Events
100—9, Morgan Fawver, 10.70; 200—5 tie, Quincy Efeturi, 21.33; 400—10, Osvaldo Cano, 49.53; 110 hurdles—4, Creighton Trembly, 14.54; 400 hurdles—8, Logan Peila, 55.78; 4x100 relay—4, CSC, 41.04; 4x400 relay—3, CSC, 3:18.01.  
Shot put—6, Dan Reynolds, 52-7 ½, and 10, Shane Collins, 48-10 ¾; discus—6, Parker Gonser, 157-11, and 9, Shane Collins, 153-11; hammer throw—1, Dan Reynolds, 203-6, and 2, Shane Collins, 197-2; long jump—3, Morgan Fawver, 24-3; triple jump—3, Derrick Nwagwu, 49-3, 5, Brock Voth, 47-11 ¾, and 10, Joss Linse, 46-10 ½; high jump—6, Joe Dumsa, 6-6 ¾, and 7 tie, Hector Ortega and Alec Penfield, 6-4 ¾. decathlon—4, Harley Rhoades, 5,674 points, 5, Pete Brown, 5,438, and 8, Kaden Dower, 4,781.

Women's Events
100—7, Callie Collier, 12.07; 200—8, Callie Collier, 24.95; 4x100 relay—7, CSC, 49.07; hammer throw—7, Courtney Smith, 158-2; high jump—2, Jourdaine Cerenil, 5-8, and 10, Hunter Wiebelhaus, 5-3; heptathlon—7, Hannah Christie, 3,076 points.

Eagles tie up regular season in Laramie

LARAMIE, Wyo. – Several Chadron State College rodeo team members competed at the University of Wyoming last weekend, in what was the final regular season competition of the 2021-22 season.
 
The men's team netted 365 points, good for fourth at the event, and its best showing of the year. However the Eagles cowboys finished the circuit ranked seventh in the Central Rocky Mountain Region.
 
In Laramie, two thirds of CSC's team points were earned by Tanner McInerney, who placed third in both the tiedown roping and team roping events. He successfully roped his calf in tiedown in just a few ticks over 10 seconds, in both the long go and the short, finishing with a total time of 20.7 seconds. For team roping, he was paired with Casper College's Nevada Berquist, and the pair entered the short go in first place with a time of 6.3 seconds. They were a bit slower in the short go, timing out at 9.0 seconds for a total of 15.3.
 
The other 120 team points came from Tanner Whetham, competing in the same two events. His long go at team roping put him sixth entering the final, nabbing 10 points, but he failed to complete the tie in his second run. Whetham and his team roping partner, Cameron Jensen of Wyoming, were tied for second entering the final with a long go time of 6.9 seconds, but their performance in the final rose to 8.9 seconds, and they finished in fourth with 15.8.
 
Seth Shorb was fifth for the Eagles in team roping, along with Eastern Wyoming's Karissa Rayhill, the women's all-around regional winner.
 
Cowgirl Sierra Lee was 10th in barrels, making the cut to Sunday's performance in seventh place. She was the only CSC cowgirl to make a final.
 
Following the final event of the regular season, none of the CSC cowboys or cowgirls were among the region's top three in any of the events. Closest is Teigan Marchant, who is in fifth at steer wrestling with 455 points.