Fueled in part by stellar first-place finishes from upperclassmen women, the Lawrence University women’s track and field team made an impressive showing last Saturday, April 28, at the UW-Whitewater Drake Alternative Meet. Continuing their dominance, the distance events carried most of the scoring on the men’s side. Fighting rough conditions that kept the temperature around 40 degrees and rainy all day, the Vikings were able to come through on some key events.
Senior standout Emily Muhs came through in a huge way, winning the 10,000m run in her first ever attempt with a time of 40:23. “Unfortunately, I ended up running alone,” noted Muhs. “[I hope that] at conference, with more people to run with, I will improve my time.”
Muhs should have people to run with as her time currently ranks her fifth overall in the conference. Junior high jumper Rose Tepper also snagged a victory with her leap of 5’1″, which, despite not being her season best, is still within an inch of her personal best. She has demonstrated her consistency all year, maintaining her place in the top five in conference.
She also was a part of the 400m-relay team that took second overall. The team included sophomore Sam Luebke, freshman Kassidy Rinehart and freshman Anna Bolgrien, and finished in 53.10. Bolgrien also added a third place finish in the 400m hurdles with her time of 1:09.59. On the men’s side, the distance team scored the majority of the points.
Seniors Sam Estrem and Tom Coben finished second and third respectively in the 10,000m run. Estrem ran 34:27 and Coben finished in 35:15. Sophomore Curran Carlile, who has been on and off with the team for much of the season, was able to sneak onto the podium to take third overall with his 5000m time of 15:46.
The throwing men who had garnered so many points for the Vikings last weekend did not do as well.
The day before in Hillsdale, Minn. at the Hillsdale College Invitational, junior Sam Stevens and freshman Kyle Dockery competed in the 3,000m steeplechase and the 10,000m run respectively in hopes of qualifying for nationals. In what turned out to be “the race that could’ve been,” Stevens ran 9:19.38 — which was good enough for 17th overall.
Stevens didn’t quite make it over the penultimate hurdle of the race and fell down into the water pit, costing him about 10 seconds. Were he to have finished without incident, his time would have most certainly qualified him for nationals, however his finishing time still put him 20th in the nation. Considering only 20 qualify for nationals, those 10 seconds may have been crucial, but he will get several more chances to qualify. In the words of Head Coach Jason Fast, “The nice thing is if he can avoid taking an early bath, he will easily run the time needed to make it to the NCAA Championships.”
Kyle Dockery also ran a time that turned a few heads. His time in the 10,000m run of 31:53 is faster than anyone in the conference by about 20 seconds. “Along with that he also eclipsed the USA Junior National Track & Field Championships Standard of 32:45 in the 10,000m,” noted Fast. The USA Junior National Championships will be held this year at Indiana University on June 15-17, and Dockery looks like he will be competing.
The team will host the Viking Invitational this Saturday, May 5, starting at 10 a.m. at the Alexander Gymnasium track. The team is looking forward to all the support they can get!