2013 Midwest Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships – Monmouth College

February 23

Final Results

Seniors Joe Puntoriero and Sean Choate All-Midwest Conferece performers at meet

The Prairie Fire indoor track and field teams broke two school records and set several new all-time top 10 marks at the conference meet.

The Knox men placed ninth overall while the Knox women finished 10th at the two-day event held on Friday and Saturday. 

Host Monmouth College swept the competition by winning both the men's and women's team championships by a wide margin against runner-up St. Norbert College.

The Prairie Fire women's team scored points on Saturday in the 400 meter dash and the distance medley relay.

First-year Carolina Goncalves (Chicago, IL, Walter Payton Prep) finished eighth in the 400 meters in 1:04.84.  The relay foursome of first-year Lizzy Reyes (Oak Park, IL, Oak Park-River Forest), senior Lizzy Warner (Champaign, IL, University Laboratory), Goncalves, and first-year Mickella Duffy-Webb (Colorado Springs, CO, William J Palmer) placed eighth in 14:04.70, which is the eighth-fastest time in the event in school history.

Senior Joe Puntoriero (Cheektowaga, NY, Cleveland Hill), after setting a new record on Friday, added third place finishes in the 60 and 200 meter dashes on Saturday to earn All-Midwest Conference honors.  He ran the 60 meters in 7.09 seconds, which ranks #2 all-time at Knox, and his time of 22.57 seconds in the 200 meters is also the second-fastest on record.   Puntoriero came close to tying his own 200 meter record of 22.56 seconds that he set earlier this month.

Senior Sean Choate (Chicago, IL, Chicago Academy), who also set a new record on the first day of the meet in the 5K to join Puntoriero as an All-MWC performer, placed fifth in the 3000 meters on Saturday.  He finished the race in 9:00.69, which ranks as the fourth-fastest time in school history.

The Knox men's distance medley relay team scored points by placing seventh in 11:21.01.  The runners were senior Jonas Mack (Algonquin, IL, Cary-Grove), juniors Matt Brongo (Eureka, IL, Eureka) and Bobby Mueller (Woodridge, IL, Downers Grove South), and first-year Victor Schultz (Staunton, VA, Robert E Lee).

Another addition to the all-time individual list is senior Paul Lebryk (Glenview, IL, Glenbrook South).  He had a hammer throw distance of 45' ½" to move into the #5 spot on the list.

Following Monmouth and St. Norbert in the women's team standings were Illinois College, Carroll University, Ripon College, Cornell College, Grinnell College, Beloit College, and Lawrence University.

Finishing third through eighth in the men's team standings were Ripon, Carroll, IC, Grinnell, Cornell, and Lawrence.  Knox, with 29 points, finished well ahead of Beloit (5 points) and had one less point than Lawrence and 7.5 fewer than Cornell.

Complete results from the championships can be found at http://www.midwestconference.org/sports/2013/2/12/ITRACK_0212133726.aspx?id=357&

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February 22

Day One Results

The Prairie Fire indoor track and field teams are shooting for a big day at the conference meet on Saturday.

The Knox men's team finished the first day of competition on Friday in a tie for seventh place with Cornell College while the Knox women's squad is in 10th place.  The placements are after only seven events scored.

The second and final day of the meet is Saturday and the Prairie Fire will be trying to score as many points as possible to move up in the team standings.

The highlights were a pair of new school records set by senior standouts Joe Puntoriero (Cheektowaga, NY, Cleveland Hill) and Sean Choate (Chicago, IL, Chicago Academy).

Puntoriero ran the 60 meter preliminaries in 7.05 seconds, breaking the record of 7.10 seconds he set just one week ago at Illinois College.  First-year Ian Horne (Albuquerque, NM, La Cueva) finished the 60 meter prelims in 7.78 seconds for the #3 spot on the all-time individual list.

Choate, who broke the record a week ago at IC in the 3000 meter run, shattered his own record in the 5000 meters this time around.  He placed second out of 26 runners in a time of 15:15.23 to earn points for the Knox men and All-MWC recognition.  Choate blew away his previous 5K record time of 15:29.06, set last month during a meet at Monmouth College.

The Knox men's sprint medley relay team also scored with a seventh place finish in 3:46.35.  The time is the sixth-fastest in school history in the event.  The runners were Puntoriero, senior Jonas Mack (Algonquin, IL, Cary-Grove), along with juniors Matt Brongo (Eureka, IL, Eureka) and Bobby Mueller (Woodridge, IL, Downers Grove South).

Junior Weston Chenoweth (Canton, IL, Canton) added to his team's point total with an eighth place finish in the shot put.  His throw landed 44' 8 ¼" away.

The first-year runners for the Prairie Fire women's team added times to the all-time performance and individual lists.

Lizzy Reyes (Oak Park, IL, Oak Park-River Forest) ran the mile in a season-best 5:53.66, which moves her up to #5 on the all-time performance list and #3 on the all-time individual list.  Her previous fastest time was 5:57.31 last Friday at Illinois College. 

Mickella Duffy-Webb (Colorado Springs, CO, William J Palmer), like Reyes, adds her name to the all-time performance list for a second time in the mile after she finished the race on Friday in 5:57.64.  The time ranks as the 10th fastest in the event.  Duffy-Webb's best one mile time of 5:55.74 was also established last Friday at IC.

Saturday's events at the conference championships get started at 10:30 a.m.

Information about this year's indoor track and field championships can be found at http://www.midwestconference.org/sports/2013/2/12/ITRACK_0212133726.aspx?id=357&