LACROSSE, Wis. – Buoyed by victories in five events, the Augustana men's track & field team turned in a fourth place finish at the Ashton May Invitational on Saturday, April 6 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. The Vikings won two running events, two field events and a relay and scored a total of 102.5 points, narrowly missing third place in the 10-team field.
 
Host Wisconsin-LaCrosse won the meet with 157.33 points and Wisconsin-Stevens Point took second with 117.83. Wisconsin-Stout was third with 103, just in front of the 102.5 put together by first year head coach Jake Shaver's crew. Wisconsin-Platteville was fifth with 99 and Wisconsin-Eau Claire took sixth with 77.33. St. Mary's (Minn.) with 35, Winona State (22), St. Scholastica (18) and Viterbo (3) rounded out the field.
 
Senior Clayton Sommers (Saydel HS, Des Moines, Iowa) won the 400 intermediate hurdles with a time of :53.55 and took seventh in the 110 high hurdles in :15.70. He also ran the leadoff leg on the winning 4x400 relay team which clocked a time of 3:24.05. He was joined on that unit by sophomore Bradley Kohler (Woodstock North HS, Woodstock, Ill.), sophomore Joshua Teets (Burlington Central HS, Maple Park, Ill.) and freshman Ian Rothery (Wheaton North HS, Wheaton, Ill.). Teets also placed eighth in the 1500 with a time of 4:00.90.
 
Senior Brandon Wilkerson (Tri-Point HS, Stelle, Ill.) won the 3000 steeplechase with a time of 9:23.49. Senior Cody Wheeler (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) took first in the hammer throw with a toss of 201' 4" and senior Ryan Ganson (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) won the javelin with a heave of 192' 5".
 
Junior Joshua Mathis (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) made his presence felt in the throwing events with a second place performance in the discus (156' 6") and a fourth in the shot (49' 0 ¾"). Sophomore Ryan Thornton (Limestone HS, Mapleton, Ill.) took second in the high jump with a leap of 6' 6". The 4x100 relay team of senior Michael Johnson (Owensboro HS, Owensboro, Ky.), Kohler, senior Logan Enstrom (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) and sophomore Noah Patterson (Mattoon HS, Mattoon, Ill.) was also second, with a time of :42.85.
 
Freshman Judd Anderson (Farmington HS, Elmwood, Ill.) placed fourth in the 400 hurdles with a time of :56.29. Freshman Evan Webber (Vernon Hills HS, Vernon Hills, Ill.) took fifth in the 5000 in 17:05.57.
 
Freshman Tyree Colbert (St. Laurence HS, Blue Island, Ill.) jumped 6'0" to take sixth in the high jump and freshman Josh Boulanger (Brother Rice HS, Chicago, Ill.) took sixth in the long jump (21' 8 ¼"). Junior Anthoney Brown (Alwood HS, Woodhull, Ill.) finished seventh in the 800 (1:59.67) and senior Patrick Crompton (Hood River Valley HS, Hood River, Ore.) was seventh in the pole vault (14' 1 ¼"). Freshman John MacDonald (Batavia HS, Batavia, Ill.) was eighth in the triple jump (40' 5 ½").
 
Next up for the Vikings will be the Carroll Invitational on Saturday, April 13 in Waukesha, Wisconsin.