APPLETON, Wis. — The Midwest Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, hosted by Lawrence University, came to a conclusion today with the Knox College men placing eighth with 31 points, thanks in large part to three podium finishes, while the Prairie Fire women came in ninth with 15.5 points.
Yesterday, junior Lance Miller crossed the tape in the men's 1500 meters in 3:56.42, which earned him the bronze. Today, the native of Mascoutah, Illinois, claimed second to garner eight points for Knox in the men's 5000 meters, completing his laps in 14:46.43, less than a quarter second off his school-record time. His time was also about 24 seconds off the pace set by Cornell College's Isaac vanWestrienen (named the Outstanding Men's Track Athlete of the championships) but also about 24 ahead of the third-place finisher.
The other Prairie Fire athlete to climb a podium step was senior Jacob Anderson in the 110 meter hurdles, one of two events that he scored in today. His 15.68 seconds in the race was one-hundredth of a second behind second place but still earned him the bronze and six points. About an hour later, he took seventh in the 400 meter hurdles (1:00.22), picking up two more points for Knox.
Senior A.J. Vazquez added four points to the Prairie Fire total by producing the fifth-best triple jump distance at 13.38 meters (43 feet 10.75 inches). In the men's discus, first-year Colson Elisme slung it 40.05 meters (131 feet 4 inches) to snag a point in eighth place. The men's 4x100 meter relay team, consisting of first-year Jayvon Bolds, Anderson, first-year Ryan Lautzenhiser and fifth-year Eusebio King-Mills, finished the event in sixth place, collecting three points in the process.
The women had a pair of athletes finish among the top eight in their respective events to complete the Prairie Fire scoring. Senior Franny Hilliard set a new Knox record in the women's 3000 meter steeplechase with her time of 12:03.99, less than 0.3 seconds faster than Autumn Crow ran just two years ago.
While Hilliard provided three points, first-year Shari Willingham added the last touch by tying for eighth in the women's high jump with a leap of 1.41 meters (4 feet 7.5 inches), good for half a point.
The team titles were hotly contested with Monmouth College coming out on top in the men's standings, edging Ripon by four points (135-131) with Cornell College not much further behind (126). Illinois College claimed the women's title ahead of Ripon by a 139-134.5 margin, while Monmouth was right on their heels with 131 points.
Joining vanWestrienen among the award winners were: Aleese Trimingham (Illinois College) as the Outstanding Women's Track Athlete; Maddie Boley (Monmouth) as the Outstanding Women's Field Athlete; Dameco Walker (Ripon) as the Outstanding Men's Field Athlete; McKenzie Murray (Illinois College) as the Women's Newcomer of the Meet; and Janius Taylor (Monmouth) as the Men's Newcomer of the Meet; and the top coaching staffs went to Illinois College (women) and Monmouth (men).
