HUTCHINSON, Kansas - The Southwestern track & field team came home from the 2025 NJCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships with a pair of top-16 finishes and school records.
Sophomore Jedd Weinkoetz of Panora closed out the Spartans' season with an 11th-place finish in the men's javelin, matching Chase Oates (2024 steeplechase) and Jonathon Hackett (2023 decathlon) for the highest individual finish at the national championships by a men's athlete in Scott Vicker's coaching tenure. Former school record holder Conrad Schroeder finished 12th in the javelin at the 2023 national championships.
Weinkoetz, who broke Schroeder's school record earlier this season, placed 19th in the javelin at last year's national championships. Going into Saturday's competition, he was seeded 23rd in the field of 24 throwers. The first thrower in the competition, Weinkoetz posted a mark of 46.05 meters on his first attempt. Leading off round two of throws, Weinkoetz ripped a 4.5-meter PR of 53.86 meters (176 feet, 8 inches) that held up to win flight one of the competition and give himself a chance at making finals.
"That second throw, you could tell it was going to be a great throw coming out of his hand," said Scott Vicker, director of cross country/track & field. "The only question about that throw was would it stay in the sector. Jedd doesn't usually send his throws toward the edges of the sector, but this one was flirting with danger on the right side. Thankfully there was a bit of a crosswind coming from that direction and it stayed in. This was the type of throw we've known all year Jedd has been capable of, and I couldn't be happier for him to close out his SWCC career with a throw like that. He's been battling a lot of pain in his foot since the competition at regionals, but he gutted it out to get one more big throw in."
Weinkoetz, who is signed to throw for Division I Oral Roberts University next year, was still clinging to a top-nine spot in finals until midway through flight two. Only two other sophomores finished ahead of Weinkoetz, showing how big of a step forward the javelin took this year as an event.
The other school record and top-16 finish came in the 4x800 relay with the team of Dillon Starlin, Zach Roome, Brandon Briley, and Cam Swapsy. The Spartans finished 15th in 7:52.07, taking 8 full seconds off the previous school record which was set at the Region 11 Championships two weeks prior by the team of Starlin, Briley, Jacob Driskill, and Swapsy.
Starlin started the relay off with his best carry of the year, running 1:58.10. Roome followed, running his first race since March after working his way back from a hamstring injury. Roome ran a blistering 53-second first lap to move the Spartans up three spots. As he crossed the start line and attempted to pass both Southeastern and DMACC, Roome was spiked by the DMACC runner and fell to the track. He was able to get back up and continue running, but burned all his energy trying to catch back up to the pack and faltered down the homestretch to a 1:59.13 carry.
Briley gained one position on his carry with a 1:57.86 split and Swapsy closed out the relay with a 1:57.10 split. The Spartans finished eighth in section one and 15th overall.
"We've had some bad luck with this relay at nationals this year," said Vicker. "Zach looked strong and I truly believe he was going to run a 1:53 split at the worst based on how good he looked. I give him a lot of credit, though. When he fell to the track, I thought our race was over. I'm proud of him for getting back up and continuing to fight his way back into the race. There's an alternate reality out there where he stays on his feet and we run 7:45 and get 11th, which would have been great. But it's hard to be upset about an 8-second school record, especially when you consider we had that fall in there. These four guys, and five with Jacob, have worked their tails off all year and I'm proud of them for how they worked as a team."
Starlin closed out his Spartan career in the open 800 meters with a 40th-place finish in 1:59.35 on Friday afternoon. He entered the event seeded 46th and was able to move up on his seed. Sophomore Ross Stephens closed out his Spartan career in Saturday's javelin competition, but fouled on all three of his attempts.
"I know it wasn't the time Dillon was hoping for, but he looked pretty gassed after running the 4x800 the previous day," Vicker said. "He gave it everything he had on Friday, and that's all I can ask for as a coach. Ross had a great career here at SWCC, and I know he will continue to progress and improve in his events at Graceland next year."
