Track Team Performs Well on Home Turf
Raven Women Finish Fourth, Raven Men Take Fifth
sports information department

The regular season ended for the Raven track teams this past weekend, as Benedictine College hosted the HAAC Conference Championships at Laughlin Track. Highlights included two conference champions, two NAIA national meet qualifiers and six new school records.

The Lady Ravens finished fourth in the team standing, a mere half-point out of 3rd, with 102 points. Angela Kendrick and Natalie Gonzales led the women with their gold-medal performances, school records and national qualifying marks in the high jump and pole vault. Silver medalists were Julie Koehn in the javelin, Laura G’Sell in the 400 hurdles and the 4 x 400 relay team of G’Sell, Shayle Williams, Christine Buechler and Hannah Francescon. Earning bronze were Francescon in the 400, breaking her existing school record, and Elizabeth Schmitz in the 5,000 and with a new school record in the 10,000.

Additional scorers for the Lady Ravens were Francescon, 4th in the 100 and 5th in the 200; G’Sell, 7th in the 200; Ashlyn Glunz, 6th in the 800; Christine Buechler, 8th in the 800; Amber Fitzpatrick, 8th in the 1,500; Lauren Long, 8th in the 100 hurdles; Martha Evans, 5th in the 3,000 steeplechase; Clare Merz, 8th in the steeplechase; the 4 x 100 relay team of Katie O’Grady, Abby Wolberg, Natalie Gonzales and Hannah Francescon in 4th; the 4 x 800 relay team of Karina Estee, Ashlyn Glunz, Shayle Williams and Christine Buechler in 4th; and Abby Wilson, with a school record, and Robyn Rogers, 5th and 6th in the 5,000 racewalk.

The men placed 5th with 53 points.  Top place finisher for the men was Louis Pick, silver medal in the high jump. Scoring points for the men were Abe Noll, 6th in the 400; Gary Foster, 8th in the 800; Alex Binder, 5th in the 1,500; Jordan Mahood, 7th in the 5,000 and 4th in the 10,000; Mike Brubaker, 5th in the steeplechase; the 4 x 100 relay team of Justin Lohman, Matt Gargus, Shaun Clyncke and Coy Blake in 6th; the 4 x 400 relay team of Alex Binder, Shaun Clyncke, Gary Foster and Sean Stapleton in 5th, the 4 x 800 relay team of Binder, Foster, Brubaker and Stapleton in 4th; Trent Roberts, 4th with a achool record in the 5,000 race walk; and, Aaron Murphy, 7th in the Decathlon.

“This was a really good meet for both teams,” said Coach Lane. “Each exceeded what we predicted before the meet, but Conference is what we point for each year, and our performances showed that was again true.

"Being at home with a crowd really loud and excited about the races was really special,” Lane added.

While this ended the regular season, six Raven athletes are headed to the NAIA National Championships, hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Ind., on May 27-29.   Those athletes are Jordan Mahood and Liz Schmitz in the men’s and women’s marathon; Laura G’Sell in the 400 hurdles; Natalie Gonzales in the pole vault; Angela Kendrick in the high jump, and for the second year, Julie Koehn in the javelin.

Results