Wheaton, Ill. – The Thunder track and field teams hosted the 2021 Don Church Twilight Meet on Friday. The men's section of the event was conducted in the mid-afternoon and early evening, while the women's section was conducted in the morning and early afternoon.
 
The Wheaton men's team placed first out of eight teams participating in the meet. The Thunder won the meet with 177.5 points, North Central placed second with 169.5 points, the University of Chicago was third, scoring 157 points, Carthage came in fourth and scored 84 points, Carroll scored 71 points to come in fifth, Augustana placed sixth with 68 points, Elmhurst scored 36 points, coming in seventh, and North Park finished with 2 points in eigth place.
 
Thunder athletes won four events at the meet today. The 4x400-meter relay team of Eli Odell (PICTURED ABOVE), Chris Albert, Max Veth and Andrew Lauber placed placed first, running a time of 3:16.62. Ethan Harsted (PICTURED LEFT) won the pole vault, clearing a height of 4.58-meters. Eil Odell was first in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.32-seconds. Odell's effort is currently ranked fifth in Division III this year. Ben Jackson (PICTURED RIGHT) finished first in the 110-meter hurdles in 14.79-seconds, a mark that ranks 17th in Division III this spring.
 
Two other Thunder relay teams also placed in the Twilight Meet. The 4x100-meter relay team of Peter Van Os, Nico Bradley, Chris Albert and Ben Jackson was second with a time of 42.32-seconds. The 4x400-meter relay team comprised of Van Os, Elliot Kim, Robert Smith and Jameson Logan also came in second place, running 3:23.41.
 
Isaiah Clausen came in second in the 110-meter hurdles, with a time of 15.20-seconds. Clausen also earned a fifth-place finish in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 22.74-seconds. Chris Albert was second in the 200-meter dash, finishing in 22.29-seconds. Max Veth and Andrew Lauber placed second and third in the 400-meter dash, respectively. Veth ran a time of 48.98-seconds, and Lauber ran a time of 49.59-seconds.
 
Three Wheaton athletes placed in the top five in the 800-meter run: Daniel Morken was second with a time of 1:57.78, Elliot Kim was third, running 1:57.99, and John Logan was fifth, finishing in 1:58.23. Senior Jonah Jones finished in third place in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:58.06. Junior Kevin Riley placed third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing in 9:37.71. Jediah Giller was second in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in a time of 58.14-seconds, and he also earned a fifth-place finish in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.84-seconds.
 
Peter Bradley was third in the pole vault, clearing a height of 4.23-meters. Jeremy Earnst earned third place in the long jump with a leap of 6.38-meters, and James Cummins was fifth in the triple jump, reaching a mark of 11.73-meters. Elijah Nitz placed fourth in the discus throw and fifth in the shot put. He threw the discus 41.30-meters and the shot 14.74-meters.

Thunder athletes will compete next weekend at the CCIW Men's Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Augustana College.