Naperville, Ill. – The Wheaton track and field teams opened their outdoor season this weekend at North Central's First Chance Invitational. The Thunder women's team placed fifth in an 11-team field.

University of Chicago placed first in the women's team standings with 220 points, followed by North Central in second with 132.83 points, Lewis scored 131 points in third place, Carthage tallied 62 points in fourth place and Wheaton rounded out the top-five with 52 points in fifth place. Harper College finished sixth with 42 points, IIT scored 22.5 points in seventh place, Aurora tallied 21.66 points in eighth place, Joliet Junior College was ninth with 14 points, North Park scored 11 points in 10^th place and Benedictine was 11^th with 10 points.
 
Three Thunder runners finished in the top-eight of the women's 5,000-meter run. Susannah Bennett placed second in 17:32.81, ranking among the top-25 fastest times in Division III this year. Hope Clark was fourth in the same event with a time of 18:08.97, and Louisa Brorson placed eighth with a time of 18:40.87. Destiny Rogers placed fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 11:54.66. She was ahead of teammate Natalie Conrad in sixth place with a time of 12:11.42 and Lily Lebo's effort of 12:11.97 in seventh place. Chloe Veth finished sixth in the 800-meter run with an effort of 2:25.37.

Abi Gum posted a time of 26.20-seconds to place fifth in the 33-woman field in the 200-meter dash. Gum also finished fifth in the javelin throw with a toss of 33.53-meters (110' 0"). Crystelle VanWingerden finished sixth in the 400-meter dash with an effort of 1:01.42. Holly Brown was seventh in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:14.12 in the event.
 
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.