Wheaton women conquer at Pat Heenan meet

February 15 2018
The Women’s Track and Field team continued their dominating season by winning North Central’s Pat Heenan Track & Field Invitational. The Thunder competed against eight other teams and came out on top. The Wheaton women scored 131 points to win the event overall. North Central finished with 115 points to score second and Olivet Nazarene University acquired 98 points to take third place.
Individually, the Wheaton women athletes strongly showcased their talents. Sophomore Favor Ezewuzie broke three Wheaton school records, one in the 60-meter dash, one in the 60-meter hurdles and yet another in the long jump. She broke her own school record with her time of 9.03 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles. Junior Abby Grace McGee finished the hurdle race in 9.36 seconds to take third place and freshman Tess Sutton took fourth in 9.40 seconds. Ezewuzie matched the Wheaton 60-meter dash record set by Renee Bettinger in 2007 by finishing in 7.87 seconds and taking first place. In the prelims for the 60-meter dash, Ezewuzie broke the old school record with a time of 7.83 seconds.
Sophomore Marissa Heath and Ezewuzie posted identical times of 26.43-seconds in the 200-meter dash to tie for first in the event.
Ezewuzie set her third school record for the meet in the women’s long jump in which she placed second with a leap of 5.41 meters. The Wheaton long jump record was previously held by Molly Walton who jumped 5.26 meters in 2007. Teammate junior Kiki Francois took fifth place with a long jump of 5.09 meters. Junior Katie Lindquist continued to succeed in the high jump as she placed second with a jump of 1.63 meters. Senior Nicole Kitchen made a height of 1.58 meters and placed fourth in the high jump.
Freshman Hannah Roeske took first place in the one-mile run with a time of 4:58.67, breaking the previous Wheaton school-record time of 4:58.81 set in 2012 by Jaime Orewiler. Roeske’s mile time currently ranks seventh in Division III this season. Junior Erika Johnson was second in the one-mile run, crossing the finish with a time of 5:11.03 and freshman Brianna Hawthorne took fifth place in 5:19.56. Junior Aryn Embretson competed in the 5,000-meter run and placed fourth with a time of 18:15.92.
Junior Rose Favino finished fourth in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:01.51. The Women’s 4×400-meter relay squad of Heath, McGee, Johnson and Kitchen took first with a time of 4:02.15.
The Women’s Thunder Track and Field team will return to compete on Friday, Feb. 16, at the F. Lee Slick Invitational in Naperville, IL. After this weekend’s competition, the women’s team will compete in the CCIW Conference meet and then move on to the indoor nationals meet, held in early March.