PICTURED ABOVE: Ellie Hawthorne won the steeplechase in Thursday's meet at Augustana. Her time of 11:07.48 is the fourth-fastest so far this spring in Division III.
Rock Island, Ill. – Despite having to delay the start of their outdoor season by one week due to weather, the Wheaton women's track and field team brought a number of strong showings to the Viking Olympics at Augustana College Thursday afternoon, placing first overall and notching a number of nationally-ranked individual performances.
The Thunder earned 196.5 in the outdoor season opener, finishing ahead of host Augustana (158 points) and St. Ambrose (107 points).
Three Wheaton women earned first-place finishes in their events, two of whose scores place them in the top 10 across NCAA Division III so far this season.
Ellie Hawthorne won the 3000-meter steeplechase in 11:07.48, currently the fourth-best time in the country,
Marissa Heath (PICTURED RIGHT) won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:04.31, good for ninth nationally, and
Eden Parker won the javelin with a toss of 33.18 meters.
Also in the 400-meter hurdles,
Abby Grace McGee placed second with a time of 1:08.60 and Tess Sutton placed third in 1:09.09 to help Wheaton sweep the top three spots on the podium. And along with Hawthorne in the steeplechase, four other Thunder women placed for points:
Hannah Roeske finished second in 11:14.31 (currently seventh in Division III),
Laura Barnes placed fourth with a time of 11:32.26 (16
th in Division III),
Brianna Hawthorne finished seventh in 12:08.82, and
Anna Joy Setran placed eighth with a time of 12:10.44.
Favor Ezewuzie (PICTURED LEFT) stayed right in stride with her performances from indoor season, earning second place in all five of her events. She finished the 100 in 12:55, followed closely by
Maggie Dansdill who placed third with a time of 12.86. In the 200, Ezewuzie finished in 25.70 – a mark good for seventh on Wheaton's all-time time list, and the 16
th-best time in Division III this spring. Dansdill placed fourth in that same race in 26.24. Ezewuzie's time of 15.33 in the 100 hurdles is the 23
rd-fastest Division III time this season, and three other Wheaton women finished in the top eight in that race: McGee placed sixth with a time of 16.14, Tess Sutton finished seventh in 16.30, and
Nicole Kitchen placed eighth in 16.50.
In the long jump, the Thunder had five women place for points. Ezewuzie recorded a mark of 5.15 meters, Kitchen earned fourth with a leap of 5.00 meters,
Cassidy Foxhoven placed seventh with a 4.80 meter mark,
Makenna Sanders jumped 4.67 meters for eighth place, and
Kiki Francois earned ninth with her jump of 4.63 meters.
Wheaton's relay teams had strong showings Thursday as well. The Thunder 4x400 team of
Marissa Heath,
Erika Johnson (PICTURED RIGHT),
Rose Favino, Kitchen placed first with a time of 4:02.29, which is currently the seventh-best time in the country, and the 4x100 team of Ezewuzie, Dansdill, Heath and
Natasha Brown placed second with a time of 48.48, also good for seventh nationally.
In the 800-meter run, Johnson took second in 2:20.13, currently the 24
th-fastest time in Division III.
Aryn Embretson finished second in the 5K with a time of 17:43.26, moving her into fifth place on Wheaton's all-time list for that race, and also placing her in the 10
th spot in the national rankings. In that same race,
Megan Bailey placed fourth in 18:20.10 and
Hannah Oechsle placed fifth in 18:24.45.
Katie Lindquist earned fifth for Wheaton in the high jump with a leap of 1.55 meters, and
Charlotte Matzal finished ninth with a mark of 1.45 meters. Matzal also placed ninth in the 400 meter race with a time of 1.03.39.
The Thunder host their first meet of the season next week, returning to McCully stadium for the Wheaton Invitational on Saturday, April 7. Field events are set to begin at 11:00 a.m., followed by running events at 12:30 p.m.
