Track & Field Teams Start 2021 Season with Success in Beloit

Reed Wilson posts sixth-best pole vault of D3 season

by Nathan Baliva

BELOIT, Wis. (04/04/2021) — The Monmouth College Track & Field team finally got their season underway with some impressive performances at the Beloit Invitational on Saturday. Running against Beloit and Lake Forest the Scots racked up a handful of wins and posted Midwest Conference bests for the season in a variety of events.

Reed Wilson (Normal, Illinois) pole vaulted a conference-best 4.75 meters on Saturday, a mark that is the sixth-best in the nation so far in 2021. Junior Joseph Oradiegwu (Richmond, Texas) leads the conference in the triple jump with a mark of 14.05, ranking 14th in Division III in 2021.

Drew Thaxton's (Decatur, Illinois) shot put throw of 16.00 meters leads the MWC and ranks seventh in Division III. He also has top honors in the discus at 41.16 meters and the hammer throw at 48.65 meters. Clayton Schulenberg (Orion, Illinois) threw the javelin 45.64 meters on Saturday to lead the conference while Hannah McVey (Monmouth, Illinois) has the best hammer throw in the MWC for women at 48.78 meters, ranking 16th in the country.

With an 11.29, freshman Patrick Shepherd (Peoria, Illinois) posted the second-best 100m time in the Midwest Conference so far this season. He finished just ahead of sophomore Luke Ditsworth's (Oquawka, Illinois) 11.30.

Kenzie Baker (Aledo, Illinois) won the women's 100m with a 12.16 the best time in the conference so far in 2021. She bettered Beloit's Aminah Crawford by 0.08 seconds.

Zach Vancil's (Little York, Illinois) 50.85 400m run in the best time in the conference so far this season by nearly two full seconds. On the women's side, Jordan Peckham (Farmington, Illinois) ran the first sub-minute 400 in the conference this year with a 59.82.

Senior Alex Cutright (Glenwood Springs, Colorado) was the only participant in the 110m hurdles but that didn't stop him from turning in the best conference time of the season so far with a 15.98. He also has the best time in the conference at the 400m hurdles at 58.48, just ahead of teammate Austin Pfau's (Leland, Illinois) 59.62.

The relay teams posted the best times in the conference as well with the men's team sprinting the 4 X 100 in 43.50 and the women doing so in 49.35, the 14th best mark in Division III this year. The men's 4 X 400 posted the best time in the conference thus far at 3:27.92 while the women did the same at 4:12.41.

Both track and field teams are in action again next Saturday hosting the Fighting Scot Invitational at April Zorn Stadium.

Hannah

McVey