WHEATON, Ill. – The Augustana men's and women's track and field teams traveled to the Wheaton Invitational meet on Friday and Saturday, placing fourth out of 14 teams on the women's side and seventh out of 13 teams on the men's side.
Charlotte Frere and Heather Michalski earned top placements in their respective throwing events on the women's side. Frere nabbed first place with her discus throw of 44.67m, tying Aubrey Schoeneman of Carthage, who hurled the same distance. Michalski grabbed her top finish in the javelin throw with a toss of 36.55m, 3.24m further than the runner-up throw.
Elsewhere for the women's team, McKenzie Reser placed fifth in the 200m dash with a time of 25.87. In the high jump, Rhiannon Marshall secured a third-place finish with her leap of 1.55m.
The Viking women finished higher than four other CCIW schools in attendance.
On the men's side, Carson Eipers claimed a third-place finish in the hammer throw with his hurl of 49.62m. Derek Butts also secured a top-five finish with his launch of 4.25m in the pole vault competition to place fifth.
In running events, Cameron Tomko secured a fifth-place finish in the 400m dash with a time of 49.84. In the 800m run, Joe Gibbons ran a 1:58.58 time to finish sixth, while Seth Sottos earned the team a point with his 200m dash time of 21.85. Grant Ackard placed in the top three in the 5000m run, claiming third with his time of 15:54.56.
Augustana also claimed top three finishes in both the men's and women's steeplechase event, with Joe Langridge placing first with a time of 9:42.69 and Emma Odle finishing third with a 12:06.10 time.
The men's 4x100 relay team of Jason Smith, Connor McBride, Braeden Clements, and Seth Sottos finished fourth with a time of 42.08. In the 4x400 team relay, runners Tomko, McBride, Smith, and Jon Cathcart nabbed a fifth-place finish with a time of 3:27.02.
The Vikings will return home to host the Augustana Meet of Champions at the Austin E. Knowlton Outdoor Athletic Complex for their next competition on April 21-22.
