Peckham, Lawal Named Performer of Year, Scots 2nd at Indoor Track Championships

Reed Wilson wins pole vault on men's side

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (02/27/2022) — The Monmouth College track and field teams both finished in second place at the Midwest Conference Indoor Championships, which concluded on Saturday. The Scots earned a pair of individual honors as Kareema Lawal (Aurora, Illinois) was named Field Performer of the Year and Jordan Peckham (Farmington, Illinois) was named Track Performer of the Year.

Peckham won the 60m race at 7.80 seconds with teammate Alyssa Villarreal (Galesburg, Illinois) finishing fourth. She also won the 200m race on Saturday with a career-best indoor time of 25.57 that puts her on the brink of the time needed to qualify for nationals. Peckham also won the 400m race at 59.21 seconds, winning by more than two seconds.

Lawal had a new career-high for an indoor weight throw at 16.63m. That throw is the fourth best indoor weight throw in school history. Lawal was the conference champion in the weight after finishing second in the shot put on Friday.

Reed Wilson (Normal, Illinois) won the pole vault for the Scots at 4.92m. He took three cracks at a new career-high indoors at 5.07m but didn't clear the bar. His season-best of 5.00m from last month ranks fifth nationally.

Riley Dulin (Monmouth, Illinois) finished top three in three events on Saturday to add to his second place finish in the mile on Friday. He was third in the 800m at 1:59.40 and third in the 3000m at 8:51.51, missing second place by .01. Dulin teamed with Alexander Brock (Lexington, Illinois), Eli Newton (Dallas City, Illinois) and Patrick Shepherd (Peoria, Illinois) to finish second in the 4x400m relay.

Luke Ditsworth (Oquawka, Illinois) finished second in the 60m run at 7.13 and third in the 200m race at 23.16. Caleb Toberman (Clifton, Illinois) finished second in the weight throw at 15.85m with Andy Bird (Hamilton, Illinois) in third at 15.38m. Linsey Turner (Elburn, Illinois) finished third in the triple jump at 10.25m

Overall the Scots finished in second place in both the men's and women's team standings. The women went back and forth with Ripon all day before finishing with 149 points to Ripon's 173.5 The men accumulated 133.5 points, finishing behind Ripon who had 172.

The Scots will have Last Chance Qualifiers next weekend with a final opportunity to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships which are March 10-12 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.