ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – A pair of seniors put forth winning efforts to highlight the Augustana effort at the Meet of Champions on Friday, April 19 at Paul V. Olsen Track. The Vikings of first year head coach Jake Shaver placed third in the 10-team meet with 131.50 points and sprinter Michael Johnson (Owensboro HS, Owensboro, Ky.) and distance runner Brandon Wilkerson (Tri-Point HS, Stelle, Ill.) stepped into the winner's circle individually.
 
Wisconsin-Whitewater won the team title with 175 points while Olivet Nazarene placed second in 141 and the Vikings were third with 131.5. Bethel (Minn.) finished fourth with 116.5 and Monmouth took fifth at 87.50. St. Ambrose (77.5), St. Francis (76), Wisconsin-Platteville (71), Luther (28) and Carthage (20) rounded out the field.
 
Wilkerson battled windy conditions and lack of a significant challenge in the 3000 steeplechase to record a sterling time of 9:15.53.
 
Johnson won both the 100 and 200 as he clocked a time of :10.84 in the 100 and then ran :21.69 to take the 200. The :21.69 tied Kyle Poston (1997) for the fourth fastest time in Augustana history. Johnson also handled the leadoff leg on the 4x100 relay and helped the Vikings to a fourth place finish in :42.67. He was joined by sophomore Bradley Kohler (Woodstock North HS, Woodstock, Ill.), senior Logan Enstrom (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) and sophomore Noah Patterson (Mattoon HS, Mattoon, Ill.).
 
Patterson placed eighth in both the 100 (:11.32) and 200 (:22.49) while Kohler ran the second leg on the sixth place 4x400 relay team that recorded a time of 3:26.06. Kohler was joined by freshman Ian Rothery (Wheaton North HS, Wheaton, Ill.), senior Nate Ambrose (Winnebago HS, Winnebago, Ill.) and senior Clayton Sommers (Saydel HS, Des Moines, Iowa). Sommers took second in the 400 intermediate hurdles with a time of :53.79 and was also fifth in the 110 high hurdles in :16.18. Rothery finished eighth in the 400 in :50.08.
 
Seniors Mark VanderHeyden (Mercer County HS, Aledo, Ill.) and Patrick Crompton (Hood River HS, Hood River, Ore.) each cleared 14' 3 ¼" in the pole vault with VanderHeyden placing second and Crompton fifth. Senior Ryan Ganson (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) placed fourth in the javelin with a toss of 176' 6".
 
Freshman Karsten Zielinski (Schaumburg HS, Schaumburg, Ill.) placed fifth in the 3000 steeplechase in 9:55.67. Sophomore Mason Wright (Polo HS, Woosung, Ill.) took fifth in the long jump (21' 3 ½") while senior Rob Williams (Vernon Hills HS, Vernon Hills, Ill.) was fifth in the 10,000 (32:24.28) and freshman Carl Schoenfield (Mundelein HS, Mundelein, Ill.) was right behind him in sixth place with a time of 32:30.70.
 
Sophomore Joshua Teets (Burlington Central HS, Maple Park, Ill.) placed sixth in both the 800 (1:57.29) and the 1500 (4:01.86). Freshman Judd Anderson (Farmington HS, Elmwood, Ill.) finished eighth in the 400 intermediate hurdles in :57.13 and ninth in the 110 high hurdles in :16.48. Junior Urvaksh Avanthsa (Cary-Grove HS, Cary, Ill.) finished eighth in the decathlon with 4,713 points. Junior Matt Contreras (Niles Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) finished ninth in the 500 in 16:21.26 and freshman John MacDonald (Batavia HS, Batavia, Ill.) took ninth in the long jump with a leap of 20' 2 ¼".
 
The Vikings will compete at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday, April 26 and Saturday, April 27 this coming week. Shaver's team will also compete at the Wisconsin-Whitewater Invitational