AU Wins Women's Outdoor Title, BenU and CUW Tie For Men's
RIVER FOREST, Ill. -- Aurora captured its first women's outdoor title at the 2012 Northern Athletics Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships this weekend, while Benedictine and Concordia Wisconsin tied for the men's title.
The Spartans captured three individual women's titles en route to their 147.5 team points. Concordia Chicago finished second with 141.5 points and Wisconsin Lutheran third with 130. Five-time defending champion Concordia Wisconsin placed fourth with 115.5.
Aurora's Ryan Chapman was named Coach of the Meet after leading his squad to the title.
Concordia Chicago's Alex Schmidt was named Track Athlete of the Meet, while her teammate Amanda Allen and Benedictine's Shana Cook were named Co-Field Athletes of the Meet. Schmidt won three titles including the 5,000-meter run, 10,000-meter run and the 3,000-meter steeplechase, Allen won the discus throw and shot put, while Cook won the hammer throw.
Schmidt's time of 11:47.79 is a new NAC Championship record, besting the previous mark of 11:49.28 set by Samantha Gries in the 2011 event.
Wisconsin Lutheran's Amanda Markham and Zakkiya Jones were named Co-Freshmen of the Meet.
Markham won two individual titles, and was also part of WLC's 4x400-meter relay championship team. Her time of 15.23 in finals of the 100-meter hurdles broke her own conference record that she set 3 weeks ago.
Jones took the title in the 100-meter dash and placed second in the 200-meter and was part of the WLC runner-up squad in the 4x100-meter relay.
A 135-point total on the men's side by both Benedictine and Concordia Wisconsin earned the first tie for the men's title in conference history. CUW won four events (110-meter hurdles, 400-meter hurdles, 4x100-meter relay and long jump) while the Eagles won three (pole vault, discus and hammer throw).
Aurora finished a close third with 127 points and host Concordia Chicago was fourth with 119 points.
Benedictine's James Kluckhohn was named Coach of the Meet after leading the Eagles to their first NAC title.
Concordia Wisconsin's Alex Pawlak was honored as Track Athlete of the Meet. Pawlak took home three titles including the 110-meter hurdles where he set a new NAC record with a finish of 14.73 seconds, the 400-meter hurdles and was a part of CUW's 4x100 relay team.
Aurora's Eric Capshaw was named Field Athlete of the Meet with a pair of titles in the shot put and javelin throw.
Wisconsin Lutheran's Travis Turnquist was named Freshman of the Meet. Turnquist won the 400-meter and placed second in the 200-meter dash.
