Bloomington, Ill. – Members of the Thunder track and field teams competed at the CCIW Elite Invitational in Bloomington on Saturday afternoon. Select Thunder athletes who qualified as top-eight finishers in the conference for their event were invited to compete in this conference-wide final meet of the indoor season.
 
The Thunder men sprang out of the gates early in their side of the invitational, sweeping the 60-meter hurdles with three impressive performances. Junior Ben Jackson won the event with a time of 8.54 seconds, while Isaiah Clausen finished in a close second, clocking in at 8.56 seconds. Freshman Jediah Giller placed third, posting a time of 8.63 seconds. 
 
Andrew Lauber ran his way to a second-place finish in the 400-meter dash with a time of 49.89-seconds. Kevin Riley also finished second in the 3000-meter with a time of 8:48.32. Peter Watson placed second in the high jump, clearing a personal-best 1.87-meters.
 
The Thunder men also swept the two relay events at the Invitational, beginning with the Distance Medley Relay. The Wheaton team of Daniel Morken, Chris Albert, Elliot Kim and Jonah Jones blazed past the rest of the field to win the event with a time of 10:34.28. Lauber was at it again, this time in the 4x400-meter relay, when he and teammates Eli Odell, Max Veth and Peter Van Os (PICTURED LEFT) won the final event of the day by a wide margin. The team's time of 3:19.91 was their season best. 
 
In the women's meet, sophomores Alyssa Mantia (18:20.28) and Susannah Bennett (18:44.91) placed second and third, respectively, in the 5000-meters. Ally Lyle raced to a third-place finish in the 800-meter run, with a time of 2:21.64. Tess Sutton competed in the 60-meter hurdles, finishing in third place with a time of 9.44-seconds.
 
The Wheaton 4x400-meter relay team of Sutton and sophomores Amy Keane, Audrey Coyle and Abi Gum (PICTURED RIGHT) placed third, crossing the finish line at 4:11.86.

After concluding the indoor portion of their season, the Thunder track and field teams are scheduled to start their outdoor season with a tri-meet against Elmhurst and the University of Chicago in Elmhurst on March 27.