By Rebekah McGee 04.11.19
Wheaton’s Track and Field Invitational on April 6 featured many impressive performances by Wheaton students. The Wheaton Women’s Track team racked up 113 points and a third place overall out of 13 teams. Similarly, the Wheaton Men’s Track team earned 78.5 points and landed in fourth place out of 10 men’s teams. After the meet, junior Favor Ezewuzie was named the CCIW National Athlete of the Week due to her victory in five events.
Ezewuzie is the standing top-scorer in sprinting. She won the 200m run in 24.94 seconds, the 100m run in 12.13 seconds, the 100m hurdles in 14.58seconds and the running long jump with a leap of 5.66 m. Her time in the 200m run was fast enough to break the school record, and she took first in long jump with a distance of 5.66 meters. Finally, a powerhouse 4x100m relay team, consisting of senior Rose Favino, Ezewuzie, freshman Sydney Jones and senior Natasha Brown, claimed a victory for Wheaton relay with a time of 48.12 seconds.
The remaining members of the talented team also had a successful meet. Brown placed second in both the 100m run and the 200m run with times of 12.40 seconds and 24.98 seconds, respectively. After competing in the winning 4×100, Favino was joined by senior Melody Daghfal, sophomore Emma Fisler and junior Charlotte Matzal in the 4x400m relay. This group took third with a time of 4:07. In the 1500m run, senior Erika Johnson finished in a time of 4:47.60, which earned her second place. Johnson also competed in the 800m run and finished fifth in 2:22.79.
The Thunder Men’s Track and Field team won the 4x400m relay when junior Paul Amstutz, sophomore Andrew Lauber, sophomore Max Veth and junior Logan Pinkerton teamed up to take first with a time of 3:21.48. Veth also won the individual 400m race with a time of 49.06. He was followed by Lauber, who placed second in 49.46.
Wheaton continued to perform well in the distance races. Sophomore Jonah Jones finished fourth in the 1500m run, crossing the finish line at 3:59.33. Pinkerton finished fifth in the 800m run at 1:57.56 while sophomore Grant Adams finished eighth in 1:59.96. In the 5000m run, senior Simon Peterson placed sixth with a time of 15:44.90.
On the hurdling stage, in addition to Ezewuzie’s win in the 100m hurdles, junior James Zeller finished sixth in the 110m hurdles, while junior Andy Margason took eighth in the 400m hurdles. Jones succeeded in the 100m hurdles, finishing fourth and sophomore Lyndi Porch took sixth in the 400m hurdles with a time of 1:10.71.
Wheaton jumpers and throwers also earned points for the Wheaton Thunder. Senior Katie Lindquist came in second in the high jump with a leap of 1.61 meters, Matzal finished eighth with a jump of 1.53 meters and senior Leif Van Grinsven took sixth with a jump of 1.87 meters. Junior Stephen Mathew tied for seventh in the same event, leaping 1.82 meters. Junior Jake Hibben reached 40.27 meters in the discus, taking fifth place. Junior Jonathan Dahlager threw the discus 39.90 meters to finish right behind Hibben and take sixth. Sophomore Heidi Considine also placed in the discus throw, taking fourth by recording a toss of 37.50 meters. In the shot put, junior Drew Smith placed seventh with a toss of 13.46 meters, and Zeller took seventh in the javelin with a throw of 42.85 meters.
Wheaton’s Track and Field teams are excited to continue their season next weekend with a competition at Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill. for the Benedictine Relays. The two-day meet will start at 10 a.m. on Friday morning and continue through Saturday evening.
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