The Iowa Central track and field, and cross country program, has produced a number of individuals to find success at the NCAA Div. I, III, III and other levels over the years.
A large group of men and women are now set to continue that trend from the 2020-21 roster.
Nine have announced plans to attend NCAA Div. I schools in the fall in Dashinelle Dyer, Jaheem Hayles, Lee Eppie, Pur Biel, Andrew Wilson, Hannah Connell, Lilia Alvarez, Rosalie Fish and Odell Frye. Alvarez is a verbal commit at the moment.
Four more are headed to NCAA Div. II schools in Elenora Curtabbi, Noah Bundrock, Dalton Baker and Chase Smith, with Adam Gruhn moving to the NCAA Div. III level.
Another five are set for NAIA schools in Noah Friske, Darius Brown, Levi Son, Brian (Wyatt) Wilkins and Chris Levario.
"It is exciting to see our sophomores achieve their goals after the two years here," said Dee Brown, Executive Director of Track and Field and Cross Country. "Some of them found their dream school and others, through lots of hard work, opened up doors that were not available to them directly out of high school."
Dyer has signed with Clemson, Hayles is going to Syracuse, Eppie will attend Mississippi State, Biel is going to Drake and Wilson to Western Illinois. On the women's side, Connell is going to South Florida, Alvarez to Tennessee-Martin, Fish to Washington and Frye to Minnesota.
Curtabbi and Bundrock will both attend West Texas A&M with Baker headed to Upper Iowa and Smith to Northern State. Gruhn has signed with Simpson.
Friske and Brown will be teammates against at St. Francis, Son is going to Morningside, Wilkins to Olivet Nazarene and Levario to Savannah College of Art and Design.
"Our No. 1 goal as a community college is to help our students accomplish their educational objectives, be it transferring to a four-year college or to enter the workforce," Iowa Central head cross country coach Nick Ekel said. "We hope our students enjoyed their time at Iowa Central and will use their experiences here as their 'stepping stone' on the way to accomplishing their goals."
Several former Tritons recently qualified for the upcoming NCAA Div. I Track and Field Championships, while many others competed at the NCAA Div. II, Div. III and NAIA championships.
-By Dana Becker