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Baker, Thaxton Earn All-American Honors with Top Eight Finishes

Peckham finishes 12th in 400m

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (05/29/2021) — The Monmouth College Track & Field team ended the season with two All-Americans as seniors Kenzie Baker (Aledo, Illinois) and Drew Thaxton (Decatur, Illinois) both turned in top eight performances on Saturday.

With the event delayed by rain and lightning, Thaxton fouled on his first shot put throw before the stadium was cleared. When the event resumed Thaxton put up throws of 16.55m and 16.58m to qualify for the nine-man finals. In the final round he went 15.84m, 16.84m and fouled on his last attempt. The 16.84m throw placed him in seventh place, earning All-American status, the first for a Monmouth male in the outdoor shot put since Jeff Rebholz in 2007. The shot put was won by Kevin Ruechel of Wisconsin-Stout at 18.21m

After the delay, Baker took to the track in the 200m, running in lane 1. Baker finished eighth at 24.72 just below her 24.38 qualifying time on Thursday. With the top-eight finish, Baker ends the season and her career as an All-American. She is the first Monmouth individual All-American in outdoor women's track and field since 2014 when Brian Gardner (200m), Raven Robinson (Shot Put) and Emily Tysma (High Jump) all earned the honor. Bailey Forsyth of Pacific Lutheran won the event in 23.74 seconds.

Jordan Peckham (Farmington, Illinois) finished 12th in the 400m on Friday with a career-best run of 56.96. The time is top 10 in Monmouth history and she is the third fastest 400m runner in school history behind Heather Furrow (1996-98) and Constance Jackson (2002). Peckham entered the event seeded 19th and finished seven spots better with her new PR.

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