NAPERVILLE - The Carthage men's track & field team competed in the second and final day of the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Outdoor Track & Field Championships at North Central College on Saturday. The team competed hard across all events, leading to a fifth place team finish.
- North Central - 236
- Illinois Wesleyan - 139
- Augustana (Ill.) - 125
- Millikin - 85.5
- Carthage - 81
- Wheaton (Ill.) - 58.5
- North Park - 38
- Carroll (Wis.) - 32
- Elmhurst - 24
SPRINTS
The 4x100m relay consisting of Christopher Seals, Shawn Rodgers, Luke Shugarman, and Dylan Parker placed seventh with a time of 43.30. The squad scored two points.
Parker placed fourth in the 400m with a time of 49.30.* He later followed that up with a sixth place finish in the 200m with a time of 22.33.* Parker registered eight points between the two events.
The 4x400m relay consisting of Tre Mitchell III, Michael Barber, Shugarman, and Chase Upmann, placed eighth with a time of 3:25.32.
DISTANCE
Upmann placed second in the 800m with a time of 1:55.89.* Upmann picked up eight team points in the event
Jacob Curulewski placed sixth in the 5000m with a time of 14:55.04.* Curulewski registered four points for the team.
JUMPS
Kedrick Johnson III placed fifth in triple jump with a mark of 13.73m.*
THROWS
Shot put contributed twelve points to the team score with Tyler Rose placing second with a personal best throw of 15.32m.* Lucas Leal placed fifth with a mark of 14.35m.*
Leal placed third in the discus throw with a throw of 45.92m.*
*Performance earned All-CCIW honors
- Jacob Brost's winning throw from day one in the javelin now ranks second on the Carthage all-time list, trailing behind Dan Ledman (2002) at 61.35m.
- Freshman Harlan Matson entered the Carthage top ten list with his 9:35.74 performance in Friday's 3,000m steeplechase. Matson ranks seventh for the Firebirds, passing Cameron Fischer (2023) at 9:36.45.
"While a 5th place finish is a disappointing team result for us," said Head Coach Josh Henry. "We still had several outstanding performances that shouldn't go unnoticed.
Jacob [Curulewski] had arguably one of the best distance double performances in school history with a 30:33 10k followed by a 14:55 5k. He is truly an outstanding competitor who put it all out there this weekend.
Another impressive weekend came from Dylan [Parker] in the sprints who qualified for the 400m and 200m finals on day 1. Day 2 consisted of anchoring the 4x100 relay, the 400m finals, and 200m finals an hour later. That was 5 high level races and he left everything out on the track this weekend.
In the throws we had several standout performances led by Jake [Brost] winning the Javelin throw on his last attempt making for a dramatic way to win a conference title. The other performances that really stood out from that group were Tyler [Rose] and Lucas [Leal] in the shot put. Tyler competed very well throwing a lifetime best when it mattered most to become the conference runner up in the event. Lucas also was impressive in the shot for other reasons. This was the first time he competed in the event this year due to an elbow injury. He worked through discomfort to score crucial points for the team and showed a lot of grit.
Probably one of the most unsung performances this weekend came from freshman distance runner Harlan [Matson]. He doubled in the 3k steeple and 1500m, narrowly missing scoring in both. His performance in the steeple ranks seventh in school history and was the top performance in the conference among freshmen. It also is the 12th best performance in NCAA Division III among freshmen this season. Falling short of scoring with a performance of that caliber truly showcases the level of competition in the CCIW.
Overall I'm incredibly proud of how our team competed and how they represent our program on a daily basis. We will be graduating several incredible people who have been outstanding leaders for this team. I would like to thank them for their dedication and leadership over the years. They're leaving the program with an outstanding culture that'll help elevate our underclassmen and incoming freshmen class. The future is bright for the Firebirds."
Carthage men's track & field will be back in action Friday May 9, at the Penultimate Qualifier hosted by Augustana (Ill.) in Rock Island, Ill. For more information, visit athletics.carthage.edu.
