Successful invite for Wheaton Men’s Track & Field Team

April 12 2018
The Wheaton Thunder Men’s Track and Field team showed some strong performances last Saturday at the Wheaton Invitational meet. The men finished in fourth place after North Central who won the 10-team meet with 207 points, Wisconsin-Stevens Point who placed second with 129.5 and Hope with 112. Wheaton had three first-place finishes to come in fourth with 81 points.
Sophomore Seth Massot showed an impressive performance by winning his 5000-meter race with a time of 15:30.95. Teammate sophomore Simon Peterson also competed and took 11th place with a time of 16:14.41. In the 3000-meter steeplechase, senior Seth Spykstra finished fourth with a time of 9:53.44. In the 800-meter run, sophomore Logan Pinkerton took sixth in 2:01.29 and senior Johnathan Walker placed seventh in 2:01.57. Senior Hudson Thomas competed in the 1500 meter run and placed sixth with a time of 4:03.65.
The Wheaton men really excelled in the field events. Senior Collin Gray won the high jump with a leap of 2.02 meters. Sophomore Stephen Mathew tied for fifth in the high jump with a 1.87 meter leap. Sophomore Drew Smith won the shot put with a toss of 14.14 meters and sophomore Jake Hibben finished second with a throw of 12.58 meters. Sophomore Jonathan Dahlager recorded a toss of 12.33 meters to take fourth place, sophomore Joey Paolina took sixth with a throw of 12.12 meters and junior Leif Van Grinsven threw 11.98 meters to achieve a seventh-place finish.
Peter Bradley reached a mark of 4.43 meters in the pole vault to finish in second place. In the discus, sophomore Robert Smith tied for fourth with a toss of 37.88 meters. Senior Tex Ritter’s throw of 36.77 meters earned him sixth place and Van Grinsven’s 34.94 meter throw earned him eighth place.
Besides doing well in competitions, the Wheaton men seem to be enjoying each other as a team. Smith shared with us, “The captains have done an excellent job this year. They lead and encourage the team both on and off the track by motivating us through their work ethic and by leading our weekly DSGs. Senior David Harris, in particular, has been the most motivating teammate for me personally out of any that I’ve ever trained with. He works as hard as the best to become the greatest athlete he can be, while also going out of his way time and time again to help his teammates in whatever way he can. I’m blessed to be training with such a God-fearing man on a daily basis.” Smith continued, “Senior Tex Ritter is someone who has helped the team so much in ways that many people were unaware of for a while. He has done an excellent job of giving growth to a team of mostly runners by bringing in a handful of athletes to compete in the throwing events. I love going to the field and seeing these men at work; they bring so much energy and life.”
The Wheaton Men’s track and field team will head to Lisle, Ill. for next week’s two-day Benedictine University Relay meet. The first day of competition starts at 12 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, April 13 and will continue on Saturday, April 14 at 12 p.m.