Mustangs Open Indoor Season Behind Rutherford’s NAIA B Mark

DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Mount Mercy men's indoor track and field team opened the 2025-26 indoor season Friday and Saturday at the Finals Week Invitational, hosted at the St. Ambrose Wellness and Recreation Center. The meet was contested on a 200-meter flat track and featured multiple scoring efforts across sprints, middle distance, distance, hurdles, and field events. 

The Mustangs were led by Baylor Speidel in the short sprints. Speidel won the 60 meters with a finals time of 6.87 seconds after advancing through preliminaries at 6.97. Brady Marak added a fourth-place finish in the event at 6.99. In the 200 meters, Speidel placed second at 22.11, scoring eight points, while Noah Valenzuela finished fifth at 23.05 and BJ Huggins placed sixth at 23.12.

Mount Mercy recorded points in the middle-distance events. Valenzuela placed second in the 600 meters with a time of 1:22.06, and Trevor Leitheiser finished fourth at 1:24.59. Garrett Franklin competed in the 400 meters, posting a time of 53.91.

In the distance events, Noah Gregoire placed second in the 3,000 meters at 8:42.73. Dylan Bledsoe followed in fourth at 8:55.82, while Matthew Schaul added a fifth-place finish at 9:08.75.

The Mustangs also posted multiple results in the hurdles. Brayden Kolosick placed fourth in the 60 hurdles finals with a time of 9.21 after running 9.16 in preliminaries. Levi Wilson-Bries added a seventh-place finish at 9.35.

Mount Mercy's 4x400 relay of Leitheiser, Chris Canas, Reid Fridley, and Daythan Ehlert finished fifth in 3:30.84.

In the field events, Oscar Nielsen placed second in the high jump with a clearance of 1.84 meters and added a third-place finish in the triple jump at 11.09 meters.

The throws group produced significant scoring performances. Caleb Rutherford won the shot put with a mark of 16.05 meters, meeting the NAIA "B" qualifying standard of 15.90 meters and being the third person in the NAIA to do so this year. Omar Salinas placed third at 14.03 meters, and Nate Jones finished fourth at 13.80.

In the weight throw, Charles Sundquist placed third with a throw of 15.70 meters, and Rutherford added a fourth-place finish at 15.58.

Mount Mercy placed third in the team standings with 123 points at the Finals Week Invitational. St. Ambrose claimed the team title with 143 points, followed by St. Xavier in second at 126. Clarke finished fourth with 68 points, while St. Francis (Ill.) placed fifth with 42.

Sauk Valley CC totaled 36 points for sixth, Culver-Stockton followed with 35, and Grand View scored 32. North Central (Ill.) rounded out the field with five points.

The Mustangs will compete again Saturday, Jan. 17, at the Chelsea Henkenius Invitational in Waverly, Iowa.