The Aurora University men's track team did not hesitate in finding tough competition for their outdoor season opener by competing at the 76^th Annual Viking Olympics hosted by Augustana College. The Spartan men placed 7^th out of 9 teams with some valiant individual efforts.

The throws crew had yet another excellent day with junior Ryan Njegovan placing 1^st for attached competitors in the discus throw with a mark of 57.63m (he was 2^nd overall only to be bested by AU's own Olympian Alex Rose). Ryan also placed 2^nd in the shot put with a mark of 17.10m. Junior Brandon Pichen also added to the throwers' dominant day by placing 2^nd in the hammer throw with a mark of 56.01m. All of those marks by Ryan and Brandon were good enough to break AU's school records in those respective events, with both of Ryan's marks also breaking the NACC conference records.  

Another strong performance by the Spartan men was by senior Robert Trotter who placed 3^rd overall in the triple jump with a mark of 13.09 beating his previous personal best by almost half a meter.

Top Aurora University Men's Performance:
100 meter – Laron Wallace (23rd - 11.97)
110 meter hurdles – Darren Stass (23rd – 19.84)
200 meter – Adam Hinders (21st – 23.53)
400 meter – Kai Tomaszewski (15th – 52.61)
400 meter hurdles – Erik Musgrave (14th – 58.82)
800 meter – Jeremiah Cooley (15th – 2:04.09)
1,500 meter – Miroljub Marin (22nd - 4:16)
3,000 Steeplechase – Carl Way (11th – 10:05)
5,000 meter – Nick Shaw (15th – 15:51)
4x100 Relay - Aurora A (3rd - 43.52) (Terry Moore, Bobby Cooks, Jaylen Robinson, Steven Ruffin)
4x400 Relay - Aurora A (13th - 3:33) (Jeremiah Cooley, Christian Barajas, Miroljub Marin, D.J. Wolfram)
High Jump – Nick Majka (7th - 1.85m)
Pole Vault – Sean Ganey (18th – 3.75m)
Javelin – Leonard Beccera (14th - 37.02m)
Long Jump – Adam Hinders (11th - 6.09m)
Triple Jump – Robert Trotter (6th - 13.40m)
Shot Put – Ryan Njegovan (2nd - 17.10m)
Discus – Ryan Njegovan (1st – 57.63m)
Hammer – Brandon Pichen (2nd – 56.01m)

Next action for the Spartan men's track and field team comes on Saturday, April 8 when they compete in the Wheaton College Invitational. Meet time is set for 11:00 a.m. in Wheaton, Illinois.