In their final tune-up before next weekend's Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference  championship, the Aurora University women's track and field team traveled to the University of Chicago and finished second at the Margaret Bradley Invite with 129 points.

There were four wins and two school records on the day, but the highlight unquestionably came in the high jump.  After a winter spent brushing and kicking the bar at 2.03 meters (6 feet, 8 inches), junior co-captain Loren Iwanicki soared over that height on Saturday.  He placed second overall and was the first collegiate finisher.  Loren ranks 21^st in Division III; the top fifteen athletes in each event qualify for the national meet. Iwanicki took three attempts at 2.06 meters—a height that would almost certainly make nationals—and on his final look at it, got his body over the bar, and kicked it with his feet. Next week's conference championship will be intensely contested, as Jerome Rhodes of the Milwaukee School of Engineering and Billy Sipek of Benedictine both rank in the top 11 in DIII.

Also in the field, junior throwers Mike Bajc and Christian Mayen both set personal bests in the weight throw, finishing a centimeter apart. Bajc was fifth in 13.27m (43-6) and Mayen was sixth in 13.26m (43-6.5).
 
The Spartans had a banner day in the middle distances, including some mid-distance runners moonlighting in the 4x400 meter relay. First-year Matt Meyers won a tactically brilliant 1000 meters, setting a school record in 2 minutes, 34.33 seconds.  In 1000's close cousin, the 800 meters, Jaime Charles and Roberto Gonzalez went 1-2, running 1:59.15 and 2:00.13 respectively.  Meyers and Charles are joined by Kyle Kayzar and Alex Duncan in taking four of the five fastest times in the NACC this season.
 
The same quartet (Meyers, Charles, Kayzar, Duncan) won the 4x400, running 3:31.42 for a five-second season best.  That's the second fastest 4x4 in the conference this winter.
 
Some tracks are laid out with a 55 meter straightaway, while others (the majority) have a 60 meter straight.  Conference and national rankings account for that five meter delta; even with the conversion, first-year Taylor Coleman's 8.11 seconds in the 55 meter hurdles was a personal best and ranks third in the NACC.
 
In the 200 meters, juniors Wade Robinson and Wes Heniff ran the 4^th and 7^th fastest times in AU history; Robinson ran 23.30 for second place while Heniff's 23.40 was good for fourth.  Heniff doubled back in an indoor personal best of 53.01 for his second fourth place finish of the day, in the 400 meters.  Both Robinson and Heniff are well-positioned to score at next week's conference championship.
 
That conference meet will be held next Saturday, March 1, at Carthage College.  Field events begin at 11:00 AM and running events begin at noon.