Viking invitational prepares track & field for MWC championship

Last Saturday, May 6, the Lawrence annual track and field Viking Invitational ended successfully with both Viking men and women taking second place. There were more than 20 track and field events for men and women starting at 10 a.m. at Whiting Field, providing athletes and fans a variety of finals to participate in and watch. With outstanding performances from sophomore Dan Sandacz and freshman Wes Hetcher, the men’s team successfully took the second spot in the Invitational. Led by Sandacz, they had many wonderful performances and took second place with 165 points, behind St. Norbert with 209 points. Ripon and Greater Milwaukee occupied third and fourth place with 111 and 52 points respectively.

In the men’s 100-meter dash, freshmen Terrell Myers and Wasonu Allen did not have a great day, getting ninth and tenth place respectively. Freshman Mik Patel, on the other hand, finished third in the men’s 800-meter run in 2:03 minutes, followed by freshman Joe Kortenhof with second place in the men’s 1500 meter run. In the men’s 110-meter and 400-meter hurdles, Sandacz came out of nowhere and grabbed two first place wins to lead the Vikings. He finished the 110-meter hurdles in 16:55 seconds and continued to win first in the 400-meter in only 59:12 seconds. Junior Teddy Kortenhof also contributed a first place win in the men’s 300-meter steeplechase, while freshman Aaron Arthur was right behind with 12:31:92 minutes. For the men’s relay, our four man team did great and got third place in both the 4×100 meter relay and the 4×400 meter.

Moving to men’s jumping, freshman Tanner MacArthur grabbed another second for the Vikings with a 1.75-meter jump while Hetcher and Allen finished fourth and fifth place in men’s long jump respectively. Hetcher took second place in men’s pole vault with the record 3.83 meters. Freshman of the year Noah Shea left his mark with second place in men’s triple jump, followed by a third place in men’s shot put by senior Jackson Straughan with 12.68 meters.

For men’s discus throw, freshman Gabe Baker took the second place spot with the record 37.20 meters. Sophomore Jimmy Geraghty also did a decent job with 24.17 meters. The Vikings went on to grab another first place in men’s hammer throw and men’s javelin throw. Straughan reached the record 44.24 meters in hammer throw during the event and senior Wes Hetcher again took first place to lead Lawrence.

For the women’s track team, junior Fanita Robins took first place in the women’s 100-meter dash in 13.12 seconds before placing second in the 200 in 27.49 seconds. The 100-meter dash was really close with the second place runner, Mckenzie Mattes, clocking in at 13.13 seconds. These successes led Lawrence to second place in the Invitational with 123 points, right behind St. Norbert with 290 points. Ripon College and the Greater Milwaukee Track Club got third and fourth place. The women’s team got a lot of second places during the event, including senior Kate Kilgus for the women’s 800-meter run in 2:24.13 and sophomore Courtney Fine in the women’s 5000-meter run. Freshman Christina Sedall got fourth place with 5:10.82 minutes in the women’s 1500-meter run.

In women’s relay, both our 4×100 and 4×400 team had great results with two second places. Juniors Fanita Robins, Janey Degnan, Eryn Blagg and Mikaela Hintz teamed up to finish the race in 51.22 seconds. The team continued to participate in the 4×400 meter and won another. The women’s long jump went well with senior Brenna Ori in third place with 4.70 meters and freshman Mikaela Hintz in fifth place with 4.29 meters. Sophomore Tobin Carlson got a record 30.74 meters and grabbed fifth in the women’s hammer throw. Ori and Blagg contributed in women’s javelin throw with Ori in fourth place with 25.15 meters and Blagg in sixth with 23.13 meters.

The Invitational ended with wonderful performances from both men and women, especially the freshmen, ensuring a bright future for our track and field teams. With these great individual performances, we hope that the Vikings’ track and field teams can keep it up in the upcoming Midwest Conference Championship.