ELSAH, Ill. – The Webster University men's track and field team was back in action this afternoon when they traveled to Elsah, Illinois, to compete in the 2023 SLIAC Indoor Championships at Principia (Ill.) College. The Gorloks took second place out of eight teams after finishing with a team score of 84.5. Greenville won the SLIAC Indoor Championships with a team score of 283.5.
Elijah Perez was the top scorer for the Gorloks as he played a role in 22 of the teams 84.5 points. He finished in first place in the 200-meter run after finishing with a time of 22.70 seconds to capture 10 points. He also had a top three finish in the 60-meter dash as he took third place with a time of 6.98 seconds to pick up six points. Lastly, he competed on the 4x400 meter relay team along with
Kaelin Triggs,
Austin Merritt, and
Joshua Clark that finished in third place with a time of 3:34.26 to grab six points. For his efforts at the meet, Perez was named the SLIAC Indoor Track Athlete of the Year for the first time in his career.
Armond Williams finished with the second most points on the team as he accumulated 18 points in two events. He won the 60-meter hurdles after finishing with a personal record time of 8.99 seconds to capture 10 points. He then went on to earn eight points in the high jump after clearing the bar at 1.88 meters.
To go along with Perez and Williams,
Kaelin Triggs,
Cameron Sakuma,
Austin Merritt, and
Landon Garland all recorded top three finishes. Triggs took third in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:00.66. Sakuma finished second in the 3,000-meter run with a personal record time of 9:18.01. Merritt finished third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 10.21 seconds. Garland took third in the pole vault after clearing the bar at a school, and personal record, height of 4.09 meters.
In addition to the personal and school records mentioned above,
Austin Merritt set a personal record in the high jump with a height of 1.73 meters,
Joshua Clark set an indoor personal record in the 400-meter run with a time of 52.24 seconds,
Steven Aubuchon set a personal record in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.11 seconds,
Caleb Fletcher set a personal record in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 9:48.73, and
Kaiden Klein set a personal record in the 200-meter run with a time of 26.61 seconds.
The full men's results are as follows:
*denotes All-SLIAC recipient (top three finishes in an event)
The Gorloks will wait to see if anyone has qualified for the 2023 NCAA Division III Indoor National Championships when the NCAA announces the qualifiers on Sunday, March 5
th at 6 p.m.
