Kenosha, Wis. – With a number of strong showings in Saturday's events at the CCIW Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Wheaton men's track and field team jumped from fifth place – where they stood after Friday's results – to a final team standing of third place, with an overall score of 100 points. North Central won the conference meet, which was held at Carthage College, with 135.5 team points. 
 
Capping off a strong indoor season, Wheaton's top 4x400 relay squad comprised of Eli Odell (PICTURED RIGHT), Chris Albert, Thomas Everest, and Andrew Lauber took home the conference championship in that relay event, finishing with a time of 3:27.07.
 
In the 55-meter hurdles, the Thunder men took home the top two podium spots, with Isaiah Clausen (PICTURED ABOVE) winning the event in 7.87 seconds, and Jediah Giller placing second in 8.07 seconds.
 
Another pair of Wheaton athletes scored for the Thunder in their event: Sam Elsen earned third place in the 800-meter run, finishing with a time of 1:56.48, while Elliot Kim placed fifth in 1:57.62.
 
In the high jump, Don Crowder finished in third thanks to a top leap of 1.96 meters, and James Cummings finished seventh with his jump of 1.82 meters.
 
Dolan Bair, who completed Friday's heptathlon events with the fifth-best overall score, finished strong in Saturday's events to bump him up to fourth in the final standings, with 3,620 points. Another fourth-place finish was earned by Kevin Riley, who finished the 3000-meter run in 8:37.43, just one day after winning the 5000-meter.
 
Two Thunder runners finished back-to-back in the 400-meter run, with Odell earning fourth place in 50.65 seconds and Lauber earning fifth in 50.70 seconds.
 
Jack Peak ran the 55-meter dash in 6.57 seconds, good for sixth place; meanwhile, teammate Trevor Gabriele earned sixth in his own event – the shot put. Gabriele's top toss was measured at 14.79 meters, and Elijah Nitz recorded a toss of 14.64 meters for seventh place.
 
The indoor season is nearing its end, and the Thunder men will send some athletes to a "last chance" meet next weekend before competing in the NCAA Division III Championships on March 11 and 12 in Winston-Salem, N.C.