On Saturday, March 25, the Southwestern Spartans traveled to the 2017 Grand View Invitational hosted by Grand View University in Des Moines.  Despite the rainy weather, the Spartans ran tough to kickstart the 2017 outdoor season.  To highlight the competition, the Spartan men and woman combined, tallied 22 top five finishes.

Two Spartans finished with first place finishes on Saturday; Ronald Henderson in the men's high jump and Sisilia Seavula swept the short sprint events winning the 100- and 200-meter dashes.  An impressive all-around performance came from freshman Dylan Lucas, who competed in four events and finished top five in each one.  Lucas earned third place finishes in the 200-meter dash, high jump, and the 4x400 meter relay along with teammates Caleb Petersen, Henderson, and Jeremy Newton.  Lucas also finished fifth in the 400-meter hurdles. The competition was not a scored meet.

Spartan Coach Jordan Strofaci said, "I really appreciated how our athletes did not allow the things they cannot control, such as the weather, to affect their attitudes going into this competition."

Next week, the Spartans will travel to Storm Lake to compete at the Buena Vista University Outdoor Invite.