JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — Lawrence University track and field standout Noah Shea leaped to the title in the triple jump Saturday and was named the Newcomer of the Year at the Midwest Conference Championships.
Shea uncorked his longest jump of the season at 44 feet, 4 inches, to win the title by more than nine inches. Beloit College’s Dewight Walker was second at 43-7.75. It marked the first conference title for Shea and it is the first time Lawrence won the triple jump since All-American Kolade Agbaje-Williams did it in 2006.
Shea also won the league’s Newcomer of the Year Award and was the only freshman to win an individual title at the conference championships.
Distance star Josh Janusiak was going for his second title of the weekend as he ran the 3,000 meters on Saturday. The sophomore led from the start until the final 300 meters when he was overtaken by a trio of Cornell College runners, none of whom ran the 5,000 that Janusiak won on Friday. Janusiak had to settle for fourth in 8:52.29 as Cornell’s Mason Wicker won in 8:49.15.
Dan Sandacz grabbed a fifth place for the Vikings in the 60 hurdles in 9.04 seconds, Jackson Straughan grabbed seventh in the weight throw at 45-7 and Will Nichols raced to eighth in the 400 in 51.62 seconds.
Lawrence’s distance medley relay team of Shea, Ben Schaefer, Terrell Myers and Max Edwards placed eighth in 11:24.96.
The Lawrence men finished in eighth place with 40 points, and Monmouth College won the title with 156.
On the women’s side, Lawrence finished eighth with 30 points, and St. Norbert College took the title with 209.5.
Hannah Kinzer capped a great weekend by placing fourth in the 3,000 meters in a personal-best time of 10:54.28. Kinzer grabbed third in the 5,000 on Friday.
Lawrence’s two relays also had great runs as the distance medley relay was third and the 4×400 was fourth.
The distance medley relay team of Amy Hutchings, Mikaela Hintz, Christina Sedall and Kate Kilgus ran its fastest time of the season at 13:15.09 to take third. The 4×400 team of Kilgus, Hintz, Hutchings and Janey Degnan also had a season-best time of 4:17.35 to take fourth.
Sedall also picked up an eighth place in the 800 in 2:33.59.