Recap courtesy of head coach Geoff Masanet:

LISLE, Ill. -- the North Park track and field team competed at the Benedictine Relays on Friday and Saturday April 12-13th. 

While the weather cooperated, it was still a windy weekend in Lisle and made for a particularly chilly Friday afternoon for the Vikings.  Day 1 highlights for the Vikings were the solid marks for Jose Barrio and Brian Chindblom in the long jump as both recorded outdoor personal bests of 6.66 meters and 6.54 meters respectively. Barrio's mark is now the #8 mark in NPU school history and both jumpers continue to rank among the top five jumpers in the CCIW conference.  George Corey threw an outdoor personal best and all-time NPU #10 throw of 13.44m in the Shot Put, placing 10th among a strong field of NCAA Division I, II and NAIA competitors including the Division III competitors. Other highlights on Friday were the NPU men's 4x200 meter relay team who won their heat, Mia Riccolo who placed 4th in the Shot Put and Jacqueline Mendro who ran a big personal best in the 3000 meter run.

Elise Ruud was the highlight for the Vikings on Saturday. Ruud placed first in the women's 100m hurdles, besting defending CCIW champion Favor Ezewuzie of Wheaton in a personal best and NPU #2 all-time performance of 14.87. Ezewuzie is currently ranked 5th in the NCAA so it was a big upset for the Viking junior. Mitchell Koeckeritz equaled his personal best in the high jump at 1.95 meters to place 4th overall and had a very close miss at 2.00 meters. The women's 4x100 ran a season best of 52.34 as they continue to drop time each week. Lucy Plunkett ran a personal best by 9 seconds in the women's 800m and Lillian Johnson jumped 10.26 meters in the triple jump, her 2nd best mark of the season.