Saturday, December 07, 2002

Matt Larson (Arlington Heights, Ill./St. Viator H.S.) opened the track and field season by setting a school record in the weight throw on Saturday afternoon at the Lewis Season Opener held in Romeoville, Ill.

In a meet in which no team scores were kept, Larson finished sixth in the weight with a toss of 46'8 ¼", breaking Jason Chilicki's 2000 mark of 45' 8½".

Also on the infield, Geoff Burns (Lanscaster, Ohio/Lancaster H.S.) took fifth place in the shot put with a 41'1" toss.

On the oval, Sean Barfield finished seventh in the 55 meter hurdles. He turned in his day's best 8.21 seconds in the prelims. Nathanael Noon (Birmingham, Ala./John Carroll H.S.) placed sixth in the 55 meter dash with a mark of 7.14 seconds. Joe Dwyer (Lansing, Ill./TF South H.S.) finished fifth in the 200m (24.41 seconds).

Nick Skytland (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis./Lincoln H.S.) crossed the finish line first for the Brown and Gold in the 400 meter dash, doing so in 54.42 seconds, while Kirk Heavner (Lincolntown, N.C./West Lincoln H.S.) was Valpo's top finisher in the 800m, placing fourth in 2:09.28.

The Crusaders 4x400m relay of Dwyer, Heavner, Skytland, and Adam Wierciak (Ottawa, Ill./Marquette H.S.) finished in third place with a time of 3:37.28.

The Crusaders will take the holiday season off, before returning to the track on Jan. 18 for the Carthage D1 Invitational.