Peterson, Owings competing at NAIA nationals in Alabama

    Two college athletes from Chase County are in Gulf Shores, Alabama this week competing in the 2021 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championship Meet.
    Josie Peterson, who just graduated from Hastings College, and Allison Owings, a sophomore at Concordia University, are both at the meet.
    Peterson is attending the outdoor nationals a third time as a Hastings College Bronco athlete.
    Peterson’s best vault heading into the meet is 12’0-3/4”.
    In her first trip to nationals, Owings will compete in the discus, and enters the meet seeded 14th nationally with her top throw of 145’3”.
    The 24 women qualifying from Concordia rank the most among all NAIA schools at nationals. The Lady Bulldogs also boast of the NAIA No. 1 national ranking.
    The NAIA meet is being held Wednesday through Friday at Mickey Miller Blackwell Stadium in Gulf Shores.
Doane’s Ed Fye at meet
    While there are no Chase County track and field athletes competing from Doane University, its head coach Ed Fye, a Wauneta native, took a large team of qualifiers.
    The Tigers have the largest contingent competing on the men’s side with 24 qualifiers, while the Doane women have 12 athletes at the meet.
    Doane’s men are currently ranked No. 1 in the NAIA Ratings Index with the women sitting No. 8.  
    Earlier this season, Fye was named the NAIA Men’s 2021 Midwest Region Coach of the Year.