The Aurora University men's track and field team garnered a third place finish at the NAIA vs. NCAA Challenge at Olivet Nazarene University on Friday, January 22 and Saturday, January 23. The Spartan men placed fifth out of eight attached teams facing grueling competition.

A couple of noteworthy performances included those of Austen Stewart and Bobby Cooks. Stewart placed second in the meet in the high jump with an incredible jump of 2.01m (6'7). Cooks won the 60 meter hurdles beating the field by a significant margin with a time of 8.21 seconds.

Top Men's Performance (top finisher per event with place and mark)
60 meter run – Camerhon Guyton (12th – 7.31)
60 meter hurdles – Bobby Cooks (1st - 8.21)
200 meter – Terry Moore (13th – 23.69)
400 meter – Aaron Crawford (12th – 55.18)
800 meter – Miroljub Marin (6th – 2:05.96)
Mile – TJ Pitcock (8th – 4:37.94)
3000 meter – Nick Shaw (8th – 9:34.30)
5000 meter– Jimmy Baeskens (2nd – 16:09.37)
4x400 Relay – Sean Ganey-  Brandon Davis - Darren Stass - Christian Barajas (11th – 3:58.18)
4x800 Relay – TJ Pitcock - Matt Meyers - Alex Duncan - Calvin Robinson (3rd – 8:30.05)
High Jump – Austen Stewart (2nd – 2.01m/6'7')
Pole Vault – Sean Ganey and Brandon Davis (6th – 4.05m/13'3.5")
Long Jump – Michael Hampton (14th – 5.4m/17' 8.75")
Triple Jump – Michael Hampton (2nd – 13.48m/44'2.75")
Shot Put – David Blutcher (19th – 11.9m/39'0.5")
Weight Throw – Brandon Pichen (9th – 13.65m/44' 9.5")
Heptathlon – Robert Sprung (8th – 3242 points)

Next action for the Spartan men's track and field team comes on Friday, January 29 when they travel to Carthage College. AU will compete in the Tadd Metzger Invitational, starting at 3:30 p.m. in Kenosha, Wisconsin.