Wheaton’s Women’s Track and Field team took second place in a field of 14 teams at Saturday’s Don Church Twilight Meet at McCully Stadium. Several impressive individual and relay team performances helped the Thunder earn 154.5 points. They trailed closely behind the University of Chicago who won the meet with 217 points. Ripon College came in third after Wheaton with 70 points.
Sophomore Favor Ezewuzie continued her successful season with three first-place finishes. She finished at the top in the 100-meter dash in 12.30 seconds, the second-fastest time for that race in Wheaton’s history. It’s also the 22nd best time in the nation this spring. Senior Maggie Dansdill also competed in the 100-meter dash and won third with a time of 12.60. Ezewuzie’s second first-place finish was in the 100 hurdles, in which she got a time of 15.00, while freshman Tess Sutton took second in 15.59. In the long jump, Ezewuzie took first with a leap of 5.29 meters, senior Nicole Kitchen jumped 5.20 meters to take second and junior Cassidy Foxhoven placed fifth with a jump of 4.96 meters.
Freshman Hannah Roeske also continued her impressive season and placed first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:14.24. This time is sixth in the Thunder record books and 13th this season in Division III. In the 3000-meter run, junior Erika Johnson finished first in a time of 10:12.39, followed closely by Roeske who took second in 10.12.66. Both runners moved up in the school records and now hold the fourth and fifth fastest Wheaton times in that race.
In the 400-meter hurdles, sophomore Marissa Heath topped the podium with a first place finish in 1:04.10, and Sutton took third in 1:08.51. In the open 400-meter run, junior Melody Daghfal placed sixth with a time of 1:03.17. Junior Megan Bailey finished sixth in the 1500-meter in 4:48.53.
Wheaton’s relay teams won both the 4×100 and 4×400 Saturday afternoon. The 4×100 squad of Ezewuzie, Dansdill, Heath and junior Natasha Brown finished in 48.54 to gain their victory and the 4×400 team of Dansdill, Brown, Kitchen and senior Makenna Sanders finished in 3:59.09.
In the high jump, junior Katie Lindquist took fifth with a mark of 1.58m, followed closely by Kitchen, who tied for sixth in the high jump with a leap of 1.53m. The Wheaton Thunder dominated the javelin, taking the top two spots. Eden Parker took first with a throw of 33.10 meters and freshman Ella Curry placed second with an effort of 31.30 meters.
The Wheaton Thunder Women’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.