McLean County Times

After the first day of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championships, the Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) men's and women's track and field teams are positioned fourth and sixth in their respective team standings. The events took place on Friday, May 3, in Rock Island, Illinois. IWU's athletes achieved one CCIW title and nine all-conference performances.

The men's team accumulated 25 points while the women's team gathered 20 points. North Central leads both categories with the men at 57 points and the women at 60.

Freshman Adam Beasley from Bloomington delivered an impressive performance in the men's long jump, achieving three consecutive personal bests. His final two jumps set a new school record for Illinois Wesleyan and tied the CCIW Outdoor meet record set by Carl Alexander of Millikin in 1999. Sophomores Jahari Scott and Carson Green also earned All-CCIW honors with their fourth and sixth-place finishes in the long jump.

Scott and Green advanced to Saturday's finals in the 100m dash, joined by freshman Reece Dusek who finished seventh out of preliminaries. In other events, sophomore Evan Lowder led IWU into the finals of the men's 400-meter dash with a top preliminary time. Dusek won his heat to secure a spot in fourth place heading into finals.

In hurdles, Alex Harvey clocked a personal-best time to win his heat in the 400m hurdles prelims, securing a second-fastest time overall. Both Harvey and freshman Matt Hyland qualified for tomorrow's final in the 110m hurdles.

Junior Ernie Waterson qualified for Saturday's title heat in the men's 800m run with a personal-best performance. Sophomore Isaac Whitaker earned All-CCIW honors with his pole vault clearance, while junior CJ Ladewig achieved similar recognition with his hammer throw finish.

On the women's side, junior Annalese Chudy secured a runner-up finish in the 10000m event, earning All-CCIW honors alongside senior Amanda Wilson who finished fourth. Other notable performances included senior Lauren Wong in long jump and sophomore Brooke Nazos in steeplechase.

Freshman Peyton Stinger posted a personal best to hold one of the fastest times going into Saturday's women's 800m final. Junior Emma McGrath also qualified for this event after her strong finish during preliminaries.

Illinois Wesleyan returns to competition on Saturday at Austin E. Knowlton Athletic Complex for day two of CCIW Outdoor Championship events starting at 10 a.m., with more details available on iwusports.com.