Maddy Wolf is on a roll for the Kansas Wesleyan women's track and field team.
Wolf, a freshman, was named the Kansas Conference's Field Athlete of the Week on Tuesday after a fourth-place finish in the javelin at the prestigious KT Woodman Classic last weekend in Wichita. Her throw of 44.04 meters qualified her for the NAIA Outdoor National Championships next month and was the second-farthest throw in KWU history.
Wolf showed it was no fluke by winning the javelin in the Coyote Challenge on Friday with a throw of 43.18 meters on a chilly, blustery day. The two-day event resumes at 10 a.m. Saturday and is the first KWU home track and field meet since the 2019 KCAC Championships.
"She hit another (NAIA) standard again, it wasn't an improvement on her mark, but consistency is what we've been looking for," coach Kyle Hiser said of Wolf.
Mayce Russell placed third (36.96) and Aunisty McNeal seventh (34.01) for KWU.
"Mayce's been battling a little bit of an elbow injury, so she got three throws in and we shut her down after that," Hiser said. "I told the ladies I think that's the first time we've had women's javelin throwers throw here at Kansas Wesleyan, so it was pretty cool to see."
Friday's competition included the javelin and hammer throws and four distance running events. Saturday's slate features the remainder of the field events along with the jumps and sprints at JRI Hospitality Stadium in the Graves Family Sports Complex and throws venue on Coronado Avenue.
Hiser was pleased with the way the women performed in less-than-ideal conditions.
"All of our gals on the distance side just came out and battled it tonight," he said. "Little windy, little cold but they put their nose in the from the get-go and everyone was racing competitively up towards the front."
Josie Koppes led a large group of Coyotes in the 800 meters that consisted of four heats. Koppes placed seventh (2:2104) followed by Hailey Nordhus in eighth (2:22.28).
"We were kind of training her as a 5K, 3K girl earlier in the year and she's shown us she wants to be an 800 runner," Hiser said of Koppes. "She looks really strong."
Joni Schroeder placed 16th (2:27.86), Shelby Lingle 20th (2:28.82), Makalyla Little 22nd (2:30.35), Ava Kenyo 24th (2:31.89), Mya Schweitzer 25th (2:32.01), Kierra Jensen 27th (2:32.68), Lauryn Mikkelson 28th (2:33.19), Emma McAlister 38th (2:42.17), Allyson Taylor 40th (2:45.50) and Micah Dickens 41st (2:45.87).
Madisyn Ehrlich was the top Coyote finisher in the 1,500 meters taking eighth (4:53.05).
"She ran okay," Hiser said. "We've been trying to get a little bit more confidence. She was really fast in the early part of the year in some of those big fields and we're just trying to get back into racing and putting yourself in position."
Jensen was 13th (5:04.54), Schweitzer 19th (5:13.75), McAlister 24th (5:21.42), Dickens 26th (5:22.06) and Taylor 28th (5:23.14).