Villarreal, Relays Win MWC Titles on Day One of Indoors

Scots women in first, men in second after Friday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (02/26/2022) — After the first day of the Midwest Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Monmouth College women are in first place by a half point and the men are in second place. The Scots had a pair of relay wins on the men's side Friday and junior Alyssa Villarreal (Galesburg, Illinois) won the long jump

The Scots won the men's 1600m sprint medley relay at 3:36.94, edging Grinnell by .05 of a second. The relay of Luke Ditsworth (Oquawka, Illinois), Patrick Shepherd (Peoria, Illinois), Alexander Brock (Lexington, Illinois) and Eli Newton (Dallas City, Illinois). The quartet of Ditsworth, Brock, Shepherd and Riley Bernas (Aurora, Illinois) also won the 4x200m relay in 1:31.33. Ditsworth qualified in second place for Saturday's 60m final.

Villarreal took the long jump with a career-best 5.37m jump on her second of six attempts on the day. Her fourth and fifth leaps of 5.32m and 5.21m respectively were also farther than any other competitor on Friday.

The junior also joined Jordan Peckham (Farmington, Illinois), Nicole Hoyer (Montgomery, Illinois) and Kara Fisher (Monmouth, Illinois) for a second-place finish in the sprint medley relay. Villarreal, Peckham, Hoyer and Linsey Turner (Elburn, Illinois) finished third in the 4x200 meter relay. Villarreal, Peckham and Hoyer also qualified for Saturday's finals in the 50m race.

In the pole vault, Turner earned All-Conference honors with a second place finish as she cleared 3.37m, a new career high. She finished second on the least-misses tiebreaker as the winner from Grinnell also cleared 3.37m and both missed at 3.52. Freshman Ashley Grothaus (Fenton, Missouri) also set a new career-high at 3.22m and finished third to earn All-Conference honors. The 3.37m result for Turner is the fifth best in school history for indoor pole vault while Grothaus' 3.22m finish ranks eighth.

Kareema Lawal (Aurora, Illinois) finished second in the shot put with a season-best 12.37m. That result earned her All-Conference selections while Maddie Boley (Beecher, Illinois) finished fourth at 12.05m and Addi Cox (Morton, Illinois) finished sixth at 11.54m.

In the men's shot put, Caleb Toberman (Clifton, Illinois) and Andy Bird (Hamilton, Illinois) both earned All-Conference honors with career-best throws. Toberman's 14.17m throw finished second while Bird was right behind him at 14.07m.

Riley Dulin (Monmouth, Illinois) finished second in the mile run at 4:21.07. He will be back on the track with multiple races on Saturday.

The women's team has 61.5 points after day one, leading Ripon by a half point. Grinnell is in third with 45 points while Lawrence is fourth with 38.

The men are in second with 44 points, trailing Cornell by 10. Ripon has 40 points while Grinnell and Knox are tied for fourth at 26.

The championships end on Saturday with field events starting at 10:30 a.m. Running events start at noon with the final races, the 4x400m relay, scheduled for 3:05 p.m.