Naperville, Ill. – Wheaton men's track and field competed on Saturday at the Pat Heenan Invitational at North Central College. The Thunder earned 90 points overall to finish fourth out of nine teams at the event, behind the University of Chicago (109 points), Lewis University (106 points), and the host Cardinals (94 points).
 
Isaiah Clausen (PICTURED RIGHT) scored in three different events to help the Thunder, most notably with a win in the 60-meter hurdles. Clausen earned that victory in 8.43 seconds, while teammate Jediah Giller finished fifth in that event in 8.87 seconds.
 
Clausen also finished second in the long jump with a mark of 6.71 meters, and tied with teammate James Cummings for seventh in the high jump with a leap of 1.78 meters. Additionally in the high jump, fellow Thunder jumper Don Crowder (PICTURED ABOVE) helped Wheaton with a third-place finish, thanks to a mark of 1.88 meters.
 
In the 5000-meter run, Kevin Riley placed second with a time of 15:21.18, and Eric Gronbeck placed third in 15:47.99.
 
David Bradley finished in second place in Saturday's pole vault competition; his best vault of the day was 4.55 meters. Meanwhile, in the shot put, Trevor Gabriele and Elijah Nitz both scored for Wheaton; Gabriele finished third with a toss of 14.42 meters, and Nitz finished fifth with a throw of 14.17 meters.
 
The Thunder saw a trio of runners place third in their respective races: in the 60-meter dash, Jack Peak finished third in 7.08 seconds; in the 400-meter run, Eli Odell earned third in 51.05 seconds; and in the 800-meter run, Sam Elsen placed third in 1:56.66. Additionally in the 400-meter, Andrew Lauber came in fourth in 51.26 seconds.
 
And in the day's 4x400 relay, the Thunder had two teams place in the top-8. The squad of Chris Albert, Odell, Thomas Everest, and Lauber scored for Wheaton with a second-place finish in 3:24.89, while Ethan Zerbe, Elsen, Wangai Karianjahi, and Elliot Kim recorded the fifth-fastest time in the event.
 
Next weekend, the Wheaton men will return to North Central for the "F. Lee Slick" Invitational. That meet is set to take place on Friday, February 18.