Nebraska Wesleyan men were the Great Plains Athletic Conference runner-up with the women finishing fourth at the 2012 GPAC Outdoor Track & Field Championships that were hosted by NWU on Saturday (May 5) at Woody Greeno Track in Lincoln.

Doane College won the men's race with 234 points, with NWU behind at 150 points. Concordia University was the women's team champion at 150.5 points, NWU had a total of 104.25.

It was the men's distance runners that paced the Prairie Wolves on Saturday. NWU went 1-2-3 in the 10,000 and finished 1,2,5-8 in the 5,000. Johnny Rutford (34:11.26) won the 10,000 with Ryan Dostal (34:51.34) taking second place. Matt Dunker was third. In the 5,000 Parker Schoen was the champion in a time of 15:28.87, just defeating teammate Mike Rathje (15:34.29). NWU also placed 5th-8th. In the steeplechase, Brock Taute was second with Jordan Rector third to complete the standout day by the distance runners.

Three different NWU men were the runner-up in their respective field events. Tommie Bardsey took second in high jump (6-9), Jay Wall in pole vault (14-11) and John Kersenbrock in long jump (23-3.25).

Nebraska Wesleyan had four champions on the women's side with junior Bailey Soucie becoming a double winner. Soucie took home the GPAC crowns in the discus (142-04) and javelin (170-2).

Hannah Kinberg was the champion in the 10,000 (38:57.06) and took second in the 5,000 (18:12.28). Kinberg was second behind teammate Malaina Huebert who won the 5,000 in a time of 18:09.63.