Monmouth Women Win Conference Title; Haynes Named Coach of the Year

Jordan Peckham wins two events, Track Performer of the Year

by Nathan Baliva

Please Note: Mik Moore (Washington, Illinois) was incorrectly identified. Apologies for the error.

MONMOUTH, Ill (05/14/2022) — The Monmouth College women's track and field team claimed the 2022 Midwest Conference Outdoor Championship on Saturday with a two-day total of 167 points. The women out-pointed Grinnell by 31 points while the men's team finished third overall with 126 points.

Senior sprinter Jordan Peckham (Farmington, Illinois) was named the Women's Track Performer of the Year, adding to the same award she won at the MWC Indoor Championships in February. Head coach Roger Haynes was named the Women's Coach of the Year, his 53rd career MWC Coach of the Year award. The conference title is the 83rd on the track for Haynes, 30th with the women's team and 16th outdoor with the women.

Peckham won the 100m race on Saturday with a time of 12.20. She returned to the track and won the 200m race as well, with a time of 25.09. Peckham also ran in both of the women's relays with the 4x100m team finishing fourth and the 4x400m team finishing fifth.

Kareema Lawal (Aurora, Illinois) started the day by winning the hammer throw with a heave of 50.00m. Amanda Dybal (Apex, North Carolina) finished third in the event, Addi Cox (Morton, Illinois) was fourth and Maddie Boley (Beecher, Illinois) scored in eighth place.

Boley, a freshman, won the discus throw at 42.19m. Dybal finished fourth and Cox finished seventh.

Kara Fisher (Monmouth, Illinois) won the 800m with a career-best 2:21.61. Mik Moore (Washington, Illinois) was fourth in 2:26.83 while Arika Hofmann finished fifth at 2:27.75.

Linsey Turner (Elburn, Illinois) finished second in the triple jump at 10.65m with the winner at 10.66m. Freshman Lauren Anderson (Cambridge, Illinois) was sixth in the high jump at 1.51m with Bethany Allen (Monmouth, Illinois) in eighth.

Ezzie Baltierra-Chavez (Denver, Colorado) was second in the 3000m steeplechase at 11:57.77. Nicole Hoyer (Montgomery, Illinois) was seventh in the 400m race at 1:03.79.

On the men's side, senior Riley Dulin (Monmouth, Illinois) was the lone winner on the day. He won by more than 15 seconds, running at 15:27.14 to claim the title in his final race of the weekend.

C.J. Bonifer (Columbia, Kentucky) finished fourth in the 3000m steeplechase with a career-best 10:19.51. Neo Colter (Geneseo, Illinois) was sixth at 10:25.78.

Reed Bona (Dyersburg, Tennessee) took second in the 400m hurdles at 57.77. Alexander Brock (Lexington, Illinois) finished third in the 400m race at 50.39.

Eli Newton (Dallas City, Illinois) finished seventh in the 800m race at 1:58.16. Both the men's 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams finished fourth.

Andy Bird (Hamilton, Illinois) finished second in the shot put at 13.63m. Joseph Oradiegwu (Richmond, Texas) was third in the triple jump at 13.93m while Maurice Greene (Galesburg, Illinois) finished seventh at 12.52m. Oradiegwu also finished seventh in the 100m race at 11.19 and Sam Phillips (Cape Coral, Florida) was fifth in the javelin at 41.77m

The Scots will have select members competing in Last Chance Qualifiers next weekend with the participants for the NCAA DIII National Championships to be announced on Sunday, May 22. The Outdoor Championships will be held May 26-28 in Geneva, Ohio.

On Friday the Scots had three individual winners. Jonathan Oradiegwu (Richmond, Texas) won the high jump at 2.01m. Reed Wilson (Normal, Illinois) won another title in the pole vault with a season-best 4.90m. Wilson won the indoor title and also won the outdoor event last year against the other Southern Division teams. Turner made it a pole vault sweep with a career-best 3.25m for her first MWC title.

Bird took second in the hammer throw at 48.52m with Caleb Toberman (Clifton, Illinois) in fourth place at 47.01m. Bird also finished fourth in the discus at 40.16m with Toberman in sixth and Shane Anderson (Lisle, Illinois) was seventh in both events.

Boley took second in the shot put with a career-best 12.31m. Cox was fourth at 12.20m and Lawal took fifth at 12.03m.

Joseph Oradiegwu got fourth in the long jump at 6.60m while his brother was seventh at 6.29m. Turner was fifth in the women's long jump at 4.84m ahead of Alyssa Villarreal (Galesburg, Illinois) in seventh at 4.71m. Ashley Grothaus (Fenton, Missouri) was third in the javelin at 33.26m, just ahead of Dybal at 31.53m

Eric Sikorski (Monmouth, Illinois) scored points with a fifth place finish in the high jump at 1.86m. Grothaus got fourth in the pole vault at 2,95m while Delaney Rexroat (Monmouth, Illinois) was seventh at 2.50m.

In the running events, Dulin placed fifth in the 1500m at 4:07.69. Hofmann was fourth in the women's 1500m at 5:03.12 and Moore finished sixth at 5:04.73.

Preliminary races were held in track events as well with the top eight progressing to Saturday's finals. Peckham qualified first in the 100m race with a season-best 12.04 and she was also second in the 200m at 25.50.

Brock qualified fourth in the 400m at 51.05. Nicole Hoyer (Montgomery, Illinois) qualified fifth in the 400m at 1:02.69. Joseph Oradiegwu qualified eighth in the 100m at 11.16 and Bona qualified second in the 400m hurdles at 59.09.