Athletes from Augustana and Monmouth colleges in Illinois will compete in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The meets will be held today and Friday in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
In men's field events, Augustana's Cody Wheeler, a junior from East Moline, goes into the meet with the nation's longest hammer throw. Two other Vikings will also throw in shot put and discus. Augustana athletes will also go for medals in the triple jump and the 3000-meter steeplechase. And Andrew Adams will be busy racking up points in the decathlon.
On the track, two seniors will run in the 400-meter hurdles and the 400-meter-relay. Alex LaMendola from Dixon will also run on the Vikings' relay team.
In women's track, Augustana sophomore, Hannah Willhite of Rock Island, will run in the 100-meters. Another sophomore, Katie Eastburn, will run in the 400. They two also qualified for the 100-meter-relay. Two of their teammates will also run with the Vikings' 400-meter-relay team. And Junior Mackenzie Butcher will compete in the pole vault.
Three Monmouth College athletes will compete in D-3 NCAA field events. Madi Schulenberg, a senior from Orion, is up first in the javelin today at 4 pm. Junior John Hintz, from Pekin, will compete in the weight throw.
And current NCAA D-3, indoor national champion pole vaulter, Dan Evers of Sugar Grove/Kaneland, will go for a medal on Friday.
By the way, for the second year in a row, men's teams at Monmouth College earned bragging rights in the Midwest Conference.
After winning conference titles in five sports, the Midwest Conference awarded the Ralph Shively All Sports Trophy to the Fighting Scots.
Shively served as the conference commissioner for more than 20 years before he retired in 2004.
The Monmouth College football, basketball, and baseball teams, plus the indoor and outdoor track and field teams, were conference champions for the 2017-2018 academic year.
It's the seventh time the Fighting Scots have won the trophy, one shy of Grinnell.
