The Benedictine University men's track and field team competed at the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Championships on Saturday in Kenosha, Wisconsin. BenU placed fourth with a total of 95 points.
"The men had a great conference meet, winning three events and finishing runner up in another three," said Director of Track and Field and Cross Country
Kevin Paterson. "Veteran leadership was in full effect, with Junior
Eric Kenebrew winning both the shot put and weight throw en route to another Field Athlete of the Meet award. Junior
Marcus Griffith and senior
Billy Sipek had another great meet in the hurdles and high jump. Two youngsters also mixed it up, with great performances from freshman
Joe Chavez in the mile and sophomore
Gerald Valenzuela in the shot put. The men had a great indoor season, and we now move our focus to the NCAA National Championships."
Kenebrew captured the Field Athlete of the Meet along with Concordia University Wisconsin's Tyler White with victories in both the shot put (15.25m) and weight throw (16.82m). Valenzuela placed second in the shot put (14.57m) and third in the weight throw (14.71m), while
Joe DeMaegd placed third in both throws (14.07m in shot put, 14.93m in weight throw).
Sipek's banner season continued with another great high jump performance. He placed second at 1.98m.
On the track, Griffith won the 55 meter hurdles at 7.61s.
Omar Lopez also was strong in the sprints, placing sixth in the 55 meter hurdles at 8.05s and eighth in the 200m at 23.91s. In the 800m,
Chris Dziagwa placed third at 1:59.01, while
Joe Chavez placed fifth at 2:01.63. Chavez also performed well in the mile, placing second at 4:24.28. In addition, the 4x400 relay team of Dziagwa,
Zach Aloff, Griffith, and
Mitchell Tuthill placed third at 3:35.35.
Benedictine finished behind Aurora University (160.5 points), Milwaukee School of Engineering (115.5 points), and Concordia University Wisconsin (113 points). The Eagles are back in action next on March 6 at the Carthage College Gill Athletics Final Qualifier.
