Results

Galesburg, Ill. – The Prairie Fire outdoor track and field teams had several top five finishes in heavily contested events during their first meet of the spring season.

The Prairie Fire hosted the Knox Outdoor Open, which featured six women's teams and nine men's squads Saturday on Turner Track at Trevor Field.  The Knox men's team tallied 78 points and placed third overall while the Knox women scored 48 points for fourth place in the only home meet of the spring season. 

Loras College swept the field by winning the men's and women's meets.

The Knox men's team was especially strong in the throw events with six top five placements.

Senior Weston Chenoweth (Canton, IL, Canton) placed second in the shot put and third in the javelin.  Senior Tim Worrell (Wataga, IL, ROWVA) was third in the hammer throw and fourth in the discus while sophomore Brennan McGlauchlen (Inver Grove Heights, MN, Simley) placed fourth in the hammer and first-year James Lenihan (Oak Lawn, IL, Oak Lawn) finished fifth in the shot put.

Sophomore Ezekiel Jere (Tema, Ghana, SOS- Hermann Gmeiner International) had a standout performance in the 800 meter run.  He placed third out of 20 runners in a time of 2:00.23, which ranks ninth on the Knox all-time top 10 individual list for the event.

Sophomore Ian Horne (Albuquerque, NM, La Cueva) scored points for the Prairie Fire with a fifth place finish in the 400 meter dash.  The men's 4x400 meter relay team placed third in 3:34.55.  The four runners were Horne, Jere, and first-years Josh Tvrdy (Tucson, AZ, Pusch Ridge Christian Academy) and Jeremy Rainey-Brown (Chicago, IL, Walter Payton College Prep).

Others scoring for the Knox men's team were junior Jake Swider-Rogers (Chicago, IL, St. Ignatius) in the 110 meter hurdles and sophomore Victor Schultz (Staunton, VA, Robert E Lee) in the crowded field for the 5000 meters.  Schultz placed eighth out of 26 runners with his time of 16:37.18.

Junior Colleen Shelly (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) notched a top five finish for the Prairie Fire women's team in the 100 meter dash.  Shelly placed fourth among the 16 runners in a time of 14.09 seconds.

Junior ShirJia Bielefeld (Weston, WI, DC Everest) finished third among the six pole vaulters and scored for Knox while senior Nellie Erikson (Mokena, IL, Lincoln-Way East) added points in two events, the long jump and the javelin.  Junior Nicolette Bridgeforth (Chicago, IL, Guerin Prep) also scored in the javelin for the Prairie Fire.

Sophomore Carolina Goncalves (Chicago, IL, Walter Payton Prep) was among the top eight performers in the 800 meter run.  She crossed the finish line with the sixth-best time (2:32.77) among the 21 runners.

The Prairie Fire track and field teams travel to participate in the Ashford University Spring Classic in Clinton, Iowa on April 5.  The meet begins at 10:30 a.m. and more information is available at http://www.ashfordathletics.com/d/2013-14/TF/2014AUSpringClassic.pdf