Wheaton, Ill.— The Scarlet Hawks battled wind, rain and fatigue at the Don Church Invitational hosted by Wheaton College, an unusual mid-week meet. They fought and won—breaking multiple school records and setting personal bests throughout.
The women's 4x100 relay team of Zoe Turner, Olivia Jameson, Amelia Moseman and Annaelle Mukash ran a new school record time of 49.91. This breaks the previous school record by a little over 2.5 seconds and is a top 3 time in Northern Athletic Collegiate Conference.
Ajibola Claudius-Akinyemi had another exciting meet to watch, running two personal bests and breaking his previous school record in the process. In the 100-meter dash, he ran a speedy 10.82, taking 2nd overall in the meet. Later that day, Claudius-Akinyemi eclipsed the 22 second mark in the 200-meter dash for the first time, running a time of 21.90 seconds. This is a best time for the senior and the fastest wind legal time in the NACC.
Over at Lawson Field, Maria Plencner heaved a new personal best in the discus throw with a distance of 31.05 meters. This throw puts her #2 all-time. Junior Izzie Pullen also got her name on the all-time list, running 2:31.98 in the 800-meter run for the tenth fastest time in Illinois Tech history.
The size of the meet allowed the Hawks to really shine—14 individuals placed in the top 10 in their respective events. Olivia Jameson took first place in the high jump competition with a height of 1.63m. Nicholas Quigley placed 3rd in the 5000-meter run in a time of 16:37.51. Annaelle Mukash ran a slight PR of 12.88 seconds in the 100-meter dash, earning 6th place. Javier Bernal placed 5th and 6th in the javelin and hammer throw, respectively, throwing personal bests in both events.
From Head Coach Tyler McQuality: "After a few weeks of great weather, Mother Nature finally caught up to us. I'm proud of how we still competed in less-than-ideal conditions. We never know what weather we're going to get at a conference championship so this was a good reminder of what conference weather could be like for a Midwest team!"
Assistant coach Brendan Batliner supported those claims, saying, "Grit and perseverance were on full display by our Hawks this Thursday afternoon as the rain came down and the spirits remained high. A special shoutout to our women's 4x100 meter team for setting a new school record in their first relay attempt this season!"
Up Next:
The Hawks will compete Friday, April 25th at the Elmhurst Invitational, hosted by Elmhurst College, in one last tune-up before the NACC Championships the following weekend.
