ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Senior Cody Wheeler (United Township HS, East Moline, Ill.) broke his own school record in the hammer and classmate Ryan Ganson (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) narrowly missed the school javelin mark Thursday at Augustana's Twilight Qualifier at Paul V. Olsen Track.
 
Wheeler shattered his own record of 207' 2", set last year, with a winning heave of 209' 5"—a mark that ranks second in the nation at the NCAA Division III Level. Ganson's winning 196' 9" in the javelin is currently 15th nationally and was just 10" off of Eric Welgat's 1988 school standard of 197' 7".
 
Other winning efforts for Coach Jake Shaver's outfit included seniors Michael Johnson (Owensboro HS, Owensboro, Ky.) and Brandon Wilkerson (Tri-Point HS, Stelle, Ill.), who posted respective times of :10.72 and 3:59.76 in the 100 and 1500.
 
Senior Clayton Sommers (Saydel HS, Des Moines, Iowa) ran a second-place :54.00 in the 400 and sophomore Daniel Bornstein (Sandburg HS, Orland Park, Ill.) placed second in the 110 hurdles with a time of :17.85. Led by freshman Evan Webber (Vernon Hills HS, Vernon Hills, Ill.), the Vikings finished second, third and fourth in the 5000. Webber finished in 17:04.10, followed by freshman Brady Johnson (Harlem HS, Loves Park, Ill.) (17:50.16) and sophomore Matt Corke (Glenbard West HS, Lisle, Ill.) (18:30.02).
 
Michael Johnson added a third-place :21.74 in the 200 and behind junior Anthoney Brown (Alwood HS, Woodhull, Ill.), Augustana placed four in the top eight in the 800. Brown was third in 1:57.59, senior Nathan Ambrose (Winnebago HS, Winnebago, Ill.) fifth in 2:02.12, senior Josh Thorson (Tri-Point HS, Kempton, Ill.) seventh in 2:07.55 and freshman Carl Schoenfield (Mundelein HS, Mundelein, Ill.) eighth in 2:08.75.
 
In addition to Wilkerson's effort, the Vikings swept spots three through eight in the 1500. Junior Cam Shotton (DeKalb HS, Cortland, Ill.) ran a third-place 4:21.96, followed by senior Rob Williams (Vernon Hills HS, Vernon Hills, Ill.) (4:24.20), junior Matt Contreras (Notre Dame HS, Chicago, Ill.) (4:30.75), sophomore Mitchell Roedel (Burlington Central HS, Elgin, Ill.) (4:32.40), junior Ehren Braun (Crystal Lake Central HS, Crystal Lake, Ill.) (4:35.17) and junior Mike Mankowski (Gardner-South Wilmington HS, Gardner, Ill.) (4:45.79).
 
Sophomore Urvaksh Avanthsa (Cary-Grove HS, Cary, Ill.) placed fifth in the javelin with a mark of 142' 6".
 
Augustana took sixth, seventh and eighth in the long jump. Freshman Jack MacDonald (Batavia HS, Batavia, Ill.) went 20' 8", sophomore Mason Wright (Polo HS, Woosung, Ill.) 20' 7¾" and junior Brandon Keleher (Orion HS, Orion, Ill.) 20' 5¼". Senior pole vaulters Mark VanderHeyden (Mercer County HS, Aledo, Ill.) and Patrick Crompton (Hood River HS, Hood River, Ore.) both cleared 14' 1¼". VanderHeyden placed sixth and Crompton seventh, based on fewest misses.
 
Shaver's 4x400 relay ran a season-best 3:20.33 to finish seventh. That quartet consisted of senior Austin Wheeler (University HS, Bloomington, Ill.),sophomore Josh Teets (Burlington Central HS, Maple Park, Ill.), Sommers and freshman Ian Rothery (Wheaton North HS, Wheaton, Ill.).
 
Rothery (:50.86) and MacDonald (42' 6¼") placed eighth in the 400 and triple jump, respectively, as did the 4x100 relay (:45.18) of sophomore Peyton Couch (Ottawa HS, Marseilles, Ill.), junior Whitaker Siaw (Christian Life HS, Rockford, Ill.), sophomore Riley Smith (St. Charles North HS, South Elgin, Ill.) and Andrew Baxter (Hononegah HS, Roscoe, Ill.).