The Lawrence Track and Field team reached the climax of its season last weekend at the Midwest Conference Championships at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. The men finished in ninth place with 20 points, while the women finished in 10th with six points. Monmouth won the men’s team title with 193 points and the St. Norbert women took first overall with 236 points.
Going into the meet, the Vikings focused on overcoming the same challenges that had haunted them all season. Due to a smaller roster size this year, the championship meet required each team member to compete at their absolute best. “We may be a small team, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be impactful,” says senior Liz Landes. “We just need to be confident that we know how to execute.” The top finish for the women’s team was senior Hayley Cardinal in the 400-meter hurdles. Her sixth-place finish with a time of 1:11.23 earned valuable points for the Vikings, whose next finisher was sophomore Janey Degnan. Degnan vaulted for a height of 8 feet, 0.5 inches for eighth place in the pole vault. The women rounded out their conference run with a seventh-place finish in a 4 x 400-meter relay consisting of Degnan, Cardinal, and sophomores Erin Schrobilgen and Amy Hutchings for a time of 4:20.
On the men’s side, freshman Josh Janusiak had a big second-place finish in only his second 10K of the season in a time of 33:03, just 17 seconds behind the leader. Freshman Ben Schaefer was right behind him in seventh place with 33:54. Senior Cam Davies also scored points for the team with his seventh-place finish in the 1,500-meter in 4:08, and junior Wes Hetcher contributed with his seventh-place finish in the pole vault with 12 feet, 5.5 inches. Sophomore Ethan Gniot followed by taking sixth in the 800-meter in 1:59. Finally Janusiak came back with a seventh-place finish in the 5K in 15:56, finishing in the top seven for the two longest races in track.
With the regular season over after conference, Viking runners, jumpers and throwers had a final opportunity to compete in a last chance meet to try and reach new personal records or qualify for the Division III National Meet. The Vikings competed in this last Chance Meet at UW La-Crosse on Thursday.
