It had been nine years almost to the day since Lawrence University hosted a track meet at Whiting Field, and Nick Kerkman marked a rebirth for Lawrence track by smashing a school record Saturday at the Viking Invitational.
Kerkman won the hammer throw with a toss of 46.83 meters to easily top his own school record. Kerkman’s throw, which converts to 153 feet, 7 inches, broke the old mark of 145-1.
The field events was where the Vikings posted a number of other first-place finishes. Nick Craker won the shot put with a throw of 45-3 and took second in the discus. On the women’s side, Rose Tepper won the high jump at 4-11.75 and Brielle Bartes took the shot put with a toss of 33-0.25.
Anna Bolgrien ran to victory in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:06.63 and she took second in the 100 hurdles in 16.07 seconds. Mike Mangian grabbed first in the 800 meters in 2:00.96.