2007 CCIW Outdoor Track and Field Championships Preview

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) Outdoor Track and Field Championships will kick off Friday, May 4 for a two-day meet at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium on the campus of North Central College.

The meet has been held since the conference’s inception in 1947, and included female athletes when the CCIW began sponsoring women’s sports in 1987.

The North Central Cardinals will be gunning for its 23rd straight conference title on the men’s side, while the women will look to earn its sixth in school history, first since 2002. Both Cardinal teams won the indoor title back in February. On the men’s side, North Central took home titles in four events, including the triple jump, pole vault, 3,000-meter run and 4x800 relay. The women had nine individual titles, including the mile, 3,000, 5,000-meter run, 4x800, distance medley relay, pole vault, shot put and weight throw.

Both the men’s and women’s teams recently competed at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. The men’s 4x800 relay team of Julius White, Jacob Austin, Cam Culpepper and Adam Pennington won the College Division with a time of 7:32.28. Additionally, the women’s DMR team of Rachael Young, Jen Bach, Liz Pearson and Jessica Griffin placed third in the College Division with a time of 11:56.46, setting a new school record (previous time was 12:47.9 in 1989).

The Augustana men also competed at the Drake Relays. Three relay teams earned top 10 finishes. The 800 and 1,600-meter relay teams both placed ninth and qualified for the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field meet. The 800-relay team of Dillon Smith, Mike Lucchetti, Jason Styzinski and Jay Watson finished with a time of 1:28.24, while the 1,600 team of Kyle Ekberg, Smith, Watson and Ted McMillan earned a time of 3:15.26. The sprint medley relay team of Lucchetti, Watson, Smith and Eric Peekenschneider finished eighth with a time of 3:28.65.

The Viking women won 15 total events at the Prairie Fire Relays at Knox College recently. Sophomore Kelsey Duhai won the long jump (16-9 1/2), while also winning the triple jump (36-4). In addition, freshman Marissa Banks won the shot put (41-10) and the discus (130-2). Augustana won all eight field events at the meet. Meghan Voiland took 16th in the pole vault at the Drake Relays with a leap of 12-5 1/2. The sprint medley team of Keli Coleman, Kali Minkler, Lindsey Homfeldt and Liz Driscoll placed 10th at the Drake Relays (4:11.40).

Illinois Wesleyan stayed close to home and competed across town at the Illinois State Invitational on April 28. Segun Olopo, winner of two sprint events during the indoor championships, finished first in the 100-meter dash with a school-record time of 10.56, which was an NCAA automatic qualifier. Indoor 400-meter dash champion Matt Harden accomplished a school-record time of 47.47, which is currently second on the NCAA list.

On the women’s side, freshman Ali McCoy won the 100-meter dash with a provisional qualifying time of 12.64, while Chinny Ekwulugo was also a provisional qualifier in the triple jump (38-0). Rachel Anderson took first in the 400-meter dash with an automatic qualifying time of 55.57.

The defending champion Wheaton women won its first outdoor title last season and will look to duplicate that success in 2007. Both the men’s and women’s teams recently place second at the Wheaton Twilight Meet, held April 20. The Thunder recently competed at North Central’s “Old Fashioned Track Meet” on April 25. Lauren Hutson won the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.36, while Marah Borgman won the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 12:26.22. On the men’s side, Brian Wurtz won the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:00.59 at North Central, while Greg Lane won the 800-meter run with a time of 1:57.54.

The Carthage men and women recently took first at the Wisconsin Private College Track and Field Championship on April 28. The men won with a team score of 182.50, while the women had a score of 209. Men’s indoor shot put and weight throw champion Brandon Jones-Harris won three events at the Private College Championship, taking first in the shot put (48-1 3/4), discus (148-3) and hammer (158-4). Michael White finished first in the 1,500-meter run (4:03.57), while Pat Coffey won the 400 hurdles (57.35). Nate Blazier won the pole vault with a mark of 14-5 1/2. The Lady Reds had four first-place finishes including Tori Cherney in the 100-meter high hurdles (16.24), Angela Hartman in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles (1:06.53), Sarah Zigman in the pole vault (10-11 3/4) and Patrice Russell in the shot put (41-3).

Like Illinois Wesleyan, Millikin also competed at the Illinois State Invitational on April 28. Frank Taylor took second in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.06, while Seantae’ Holland finished seventh in the 100-meter dash with a season-best time of 11.05. Kapricia Poulos won two conference titles at the indoor meet last season, taking first in the high jump and long jump. She recently ran a season-best time of 12.62 in the 100 dash at the Illinois State Invitational, good enough for fourth place.

The Elmhurst men’s and women’s teams both recently took fifth at the Wheaton Twilight. Indoor mile champion Brian McConnell was champion in the 3,000-meter run at Wheaton, finishing with a time of 8:29.03, while Mike Ptack was second in the 3,000 steeplechase (9:45.91). On the women’s side, Katlyn Bednarski was fourth in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 5:09.96, while Molli Hermiston was third in the high jump (4-9 3/4).

North Park’s men’s team recently took first at the Cougar Invitational at Concordia on April 28. James Williams won the 3,000 steeplechase with a time of 11:09.1, while Lucas DeJong was first in the discus and third in the hammer. Matt Dwight had a season-best time of 52.06 in the 400-meter dash, good enough for second place. Amy Peters tossed a school-record throw in the hammer with a toss of 119-4. Sophomore Katherine Penton won the pole vault with a leap of 8-11 1/2. Freshman Hannah Landecker took second in the 1,500-meter run with a lifetime best of 4:56.75.