The Aurora University men's track and field team showed true strength and grit at the Margaret Bradley Invite hosted by The University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. The Spartan men finished in second place with 93.5 points out of the 11 schools that competed. The men had several top place finishes and personal records across all event groups.
 
The sprinters had many strong performances. The meet opened with Akeem Haye and Montez Wright placing fourth and fifth respectively in the 60-meter finals. The 200-meter runners had very strong performances as many placed in the top half of the nearly 48 athletes who competed. Freshmen Montez Wright led the 200 with his first-place win followed by Peter Rudelich, Akeem Haye, and Khadeil Ergas who finished in fifth, seventh, and tenth place respectively. Montez, Peter, and Khadeil all ran personal bests as well. Khadeil came back to run strong in the 400-meter where he earned another personal best and an eighth-place finish alongside teammate Nick Brosman who also PR'd with his fourth-place finish.
 
The distance runners left it all on the track! Jacob Hernandez won the 800-meter breaking 2:00 as he ran 1:59.2 which counts as his fastest time this season! He was followed by teammate Cormac Dietz who also ran a lifetime PR. Chris Turner ran his season best of 5:05.33 in the mile. Nick Valle ran a season best in the 5000-meter then came back to run a strong 3K. Dylan Taylor ran a fantastic 3K running a lifetime personal best of 10:21.30.
 
Many of the jumpers finished within the top three. Peter Rudelich won the men's high jump. Preston Tobin finished third in pole vault. Robbie Peterson Jr. finished second in triple jump followed by teammate Montez Wright who finished third.  
 
When it came to the ring, all the AU men throwers threw impressive lifetime personal bests. Jonathan Gramme PR'D in both shot put and the weight throw. He threw 11.72m in the shot put and 12.05m in the weight throw. Jalen Cole, Dylan Whisenant, and Ian Withrow all threw a personal best in the weight throw as well.
 
Next up for the Spartan men's track and field team is Saturday, February 29 when they travel to Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin for the NACC Indoor Conference Championship. Meet time is set for 11:00 am.