Results
Galesburg, IL – The Prairie Fire indoor track and field teams had several strong performances in the season-opening Knox College Invitational on Saturday in T. Fleming Fieldhouse.
Knox had a combined 21 top five finishes and won six events against five other schools. The men’s team placed in the top five 11 times and posted five victories while the women’s team finished in the top five 10 times, including one first place. In addition, the meet produced two school records and 13 new all-time top 10 marks.
First-year Lizzy Reyes (Oak Park, IL, Oak Park-River Forest) won the 3000 meter run with her time of 12:41.07. The Prairie Fire had three of the top five times in the event with junior Autumn Rohweder (Oneida, IL, ROWVA) finishing third in 13:14.14 and sophomore Jade Ivy (Chicago, IL, William H Taft) placing fifth in 13:26.50.
Senior Lizzy Warner (Champaign, IL, University Laboratory) placed fifth in the 200 and 400 meter dashes. She finished the 200 in a time of :30.31 and ran the 400 in 1:06.65.
First-year Grace Neubauer (Inverness, IL, William Fremd) finished second in the mile, followed by two of her teammates. Neubauer crossed the finish line in 6:20.57, which ranks #9 on the all-time individual list for the event. Fellow first-year runner Mickella Duffy-Webb (Colorado Springs, CO, William J Palmer) was third in 6:31.63 and junior Carli Bogolub (Downers Grove, IL, Highland Park) placed fifth in 6:47.75.
Senior Jenny Linder (Owasso, OK, Owasso) earned a fourth place finish in the 800 meters. She ran the race in a time of 3:04.26.
Knox’s top five finisher in the field events was junior Sophia Mwaura (Santa Fe, NM, Santa Fe Prep). She recorded a distance of 33 feet and 1 3/4 inches in the weight throw to place fourth.
Senior Joe Puntoriero (Cheektowaga, NY, Cleveland Hill) had a fantastic season-opening meet for the Prairie Fire men’s team. He turned in four top five performances, including first place finishes in the 60 meter dash and the 200 meter dash.
Puntoriero won the 60 meter preliminaries by edging out Duane Lee of Iowa Wesleyan (:07.201 to :07.210), setting a new school record in the process by breaking the previous all-time mark of :07.31 that he set last February. Puntoriero followed that by defeating Lee by two-hundredths of a second to win the 60 meters in a time of :07.16, which set yet another school record in the event.
Puntoriero also established a new career-best effort in the 200 meters by cruising to victory in :22.88 -- the second-fastest time in school history and seven-tenths of a second ahead of Lee’s runner-up time of :23.58. Puntoriero topped his previous fastest time of :22.90 set last season and just missed matching the school record of :22.87 in the 200 meters by Scott McCarty in 1999.
Puntoriero added a second place finish in the long jump with a distance of 20 feet and 3 1/2 inches.
Two first-year sprinters added their names to the record books in the 60 meters. Josh Lee (Wilmette, IL, Notre Dame) is fifth on the all-time performance list with his time of :07.94 while Alan Lee (St. Louis, MO, St. Mary's) finished in :08.35 for the eighth-fastest time.
Another double-winner for the Prairie Fire was senior Sean Choate (Chicago, IL, Chicago Academy), who finished first in the mile and the 3000 meters.
Choate’s time in the mile, a career-best 4:40.45, ranks #5 on the all-time individual list. He established his previous fastest time of 4:47.36 during the 2011 season. First-year runner Victor Schultz (Staunton, VA, Robert E Lee) is a new addition to the top 10 individual list for his time in the mile. He ran the race in 4:52.18, placing third overall, and ranks ninth all-time. Schultz placed third in the meet in the 3000 meters as well, finishing in 9:49. Choate's time of 9:24.86 in the 3K ranks #10 on the all-time individual list.
The Prairie Fire had two runners finish in the top five in the 800 meters. Juniors Matt Brongo (Eureka, IL, Eureka) and Bobby Mueller (Woodridge, IL, Downers Grove South) placed third and fourth, respectively. Brongo’s time was :55.44 and Mueller’s was :55.56.
Three Knox field performers finished the meet in the top five as well.
Junior Weston Chenoweth (Canton, IL, Canton), who finished second at the 2012 Midwest Conference Championships in the shot put to earn a medal, placed second on Saturday with his throw of 43 feet and 8 1/2 inches.
A pair of seniors, Paul Lebryk (Glenview, IL, Glenbrook South) and Dan Johnson (Chicago, IL, Luther South), performed well in the weight throw. Lebryk’s throw of 40 feet and 8 1/4 inches was good for fourth place. Johnson was fifth with a throw that traveled a distance of 40 feet and 4 3/4 inches.
Besides the Prairie Fire and Iowa Wesleyan, the other participating teams were Missouri Baptist, Central Methodist, Illinois College, and Culver-Stockton College.
Knox travels to Monmouth for the second meet of the young season on January 19. The Prairie Fire teams will take part in the Midwest Invite, which starts at 10:45 a.m.
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