Story by ALEX AGUEROS, for The Muleskinner—

Central track and field enters its final leg of the regular season this weekend, with three separate meets from Thursday through Saturday.

The Mules and Jennies will send athletes to Indianola, Iowa for the Simpson Twilight, also known as the Kip Janvrin Open, named after Central’s co-head track and field coach. The Simpson meet begins Friday.

More UCM track and field athletes travel to Des Moines, Iowa today to compete in the Drake Relays, including freshman Kellin Loch, the reining MIAA Player of the Week after breaking an 11-year old Walton Stadium record in the 800-meter run. Loch is focused on even more accomplishments this weekend.

“Going into Drake, we have several goals that we are trying to reach,” Loch said. “The 4×8 team is going to take a shot at the school record and the 4×4 is focused on getting a provisional time and qualifying for nationals.”

Drake is one of the largest meets Central will send athletes to this outdoor season, and as co-head coach Kirk Pedersen noted the meet is very selective.

“At Drake, we have the opportunity to get into a quality field,” Pedersen said. “We couldn’t get our whole team in there. We only have a couple relays and a couple individuals.”

The remainder of the track and field team either travels to Baldwin City, Kan., for the Baker Wildcat Open, or stays in town to rest.

Pedersen said these final three meets provide a challenging task of balancing academics and working toward conference for the athletes.

“The kids’ mindsets are tough this time of year,” Pedersen said. “Finals coming up, and most of our kids are either resting or trying to stay sharp.”

After being “very pleased” with the team’s performance in last week’s Mule Relays, Janvrin is excited for the final leg of the outdoor season.

“As we get close to conference, the mindset is, ‘let’s get it done,’” Janvrin said.

The Drake meet begins today at 3 p.m., the Simpson Twilight begins tomorrow at 2 p.m. and the Baker Wildcat Open starts Saturday at 10 a.m.