Naperville, Ill. – The Wheaton track and field teams opened their outdoor season this weekend at North Central's First Chance Invitational. The Thunder men's team placed fifth in an 11-team field.
University of Chicago placed first in the men's team standings with 172 points, followed by North Central in second with 159 points, Lewis scored 106.5 points in third place, Carthage tallied 91 points in fourth place and Wheaton rounded out the top-five with 75 points in fifth place. Harper finished sixth with 38 points, Aurora scored 37 points in seventh place, Benedictine tallied 35.5 points in eighth place, Joliet Junior College was ninth with 14 points, North Park scored six points in 10
th place and Illinois Tech was 11
th.
Wheaton's John Logan was the winner of the men's 800-meter run with a time of 1:57.25. He was just ahead of teammate
Sam Elsen in second place with an effort of 1:57.40.
Nathan Gibson finished fifth in the 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:25.15, and
Ryan Cross was eighth in 15:30.84.
Jacob Fopma finished eighth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:57.13.
Jediah Giller finished third in the men's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.23-seconds.
Isaiah Clausen was fifth in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.61-seconds, followed by Giller in sixth place at 15.77-seconds. JP Gilbert posted a time of 22.82-seconds to finish sixth in the 200-meter dash. Ethan Erbe was seventh in the 400-meter dash with a time of 53.12-seconds.
Clausen recorded a leap of 6.52-meters (21' 4-3/4") to finish second in a 28-man field in the long jump.
James Cummings was sixth in the long jump with an effort of 6.19-meters (20' 3-3/4"). Cummings placed fourth in the high jump with an effort of 1.88-meters (6' 2").
Jeremy Earnst took fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 12.60-meters (41' 4-1/4").
The Wheaton track and field teams host the Wheaton Invitational next Saturday. Running events are scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. at McCully Stadium. Throwing events are slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. at Lawson field, with jumps beginning at 11:45 a.m. at McCully Stadium.
