The Wheaton Thunder Men’s Track and Field team had a very successful meet last Saturday. Competing at home in the Don Church Twilight Meet, sixteen point-scoring performances led the Thunder to a second place victory. Wheaton acquired 123.5 points and came in closely behind The University of Chicago who won with 177.5 points. Following Wheaton, North Central took third with 117 points.
The Men’s Thunder had an especially strong showing in the field events. Junior Peter Bradley started the meet off strong, taking first in the pole vault by marking 4.50 meters. This height places him 10th in the all-time Thunder record books. Freshman David Bradley made 4.35 meters and junior Leif Van Grinsven made 4.20 meters, finishing third and sixth, respectively. In the shot put, sophomore Drew Smith took fourth place with a toss of 14.25 meters. Sophomore Michael Kitchen earned fourth place in the triple jump with a leap of 12.06 meters and sophomore Joey Paolina threw the javelin 42.35 meters to take sixth place.
The Thunder also saw success in the running events. In the 400-meter run, freshman Andrew Lauber crossed the finish line with a time of 50.22 to take second, followed closely by sophomore Paul Amstutz who took third with a time of 50.98. In the steeplechase, a time of 9:39.41 earned senior Seth Spykstra second place. Sophomore Logan Pinkerton placed in the 800-meter run, running a time of 1:56.11 to take third. In the 5000-meter, sophomore Seth Massot ran a time of 15:27.01 and junior Grant Alexander ran 15:31.51 to place third and fourth, respectively. Sophomore Andy Margason and sophomore Robert Smith ran in the 110 hurdles and also took third and fourth with times of 16.54 and 17.17, respectively. Margason ran in the 400 hurdles and placed fourth in 1:00.19 while senior Matt Peneycad placed sixth in the same race in 1:03.70. In the 1500-meter run, senior Hudson Thomas took fifth with a time of 3:59.13.
Three Thunder relay teams placed in the top six in the 4×400. The squad of junior Bradley Dowell, junior David Dischinger, senior Johnathan Walker and Pinkerton came in second at 3:22.69. The grouping of junior Andrew Daghfal, sophomore Robert Smith, senior David Harris and Grinsven took fourth place at 3:32.9 and foursome of junior Andrew Van Os, freshman Peter Van Os, junior Noah Brase and freshman Grant Adams finished sixth with a time of 3:39.04. Wheaton’s 4×100 relay team of senior Marcus Smith, freshman Andrew Lauber, Amstutz and senior Collin Gray took home fifth place in 44.33.
The Thunder are excited about how they were able to perform this week. Junior Peter Bradley told us a bit about how this season has played out for the men’s team: “We have lost many people to injuries this year, but I have been so impressed by the character of the team and how we have handled the adversity and have not made excuses. I have seen our team exemplify our team verse, Colossians 3:23, which says, ‘Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,’ over and over again. Learning to follow Jesus Christ and support each other in this community is the highest form of accomplishment that I can achieve as a member of this track team. Performing well is just icing on the cake.”
The Wheaton Thunder Men’s Track and Field team has two weeks filled with three meets before the CCIW Outdoor Track & Field Championships. They competed on Tuesday at the Lewis University Twilight Meet and will compete this weekend at the Drake Relays.