Men's Track & Field Wins Three Golds at NWC Championship Meet

The Pioneers posted seven All-Conference results this weekend

SALEM, Ore.—Freshmen Nick Stade and Jordan Lahusky and sophomore Max Aldrich all won their events to lead Lewis & Clark College men's track & field to a sixth-place finish in the team standings on Day 2 of the 2023 Northwest Conference Championship Meet.

THE BASICS

6^th Place – 77.5 Points

HOW IT HAPPENED

Men's track & field won three events and placed five student-athletes on the All-Conference team (seven total All-Conference honors) to earn their most points as a team at an NWC Championship Meet since 1988.

Lahusky earned the first gold of the day and meet for the men's team. The freshman came in to the weekend seeded first in the 400m and left no doubt with a second-straight dominant performance in the event. Lahusky blazed around the track in a PR time of 48.66 to finish 0.73 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Stade joined him atop the podium less than an hour later. The freshman also came into his event, the 400m hurdles, seeded first and showed why in the finals. After running the fastest time in prelims on Friday, he posted a PR time of 54.84 to defeat the second-place runner by 0.26 seconds.

Aldrich became the third Pioneer to win his first collegiate gold medal, when he took to the track for the second-to-last event of the meet. The sophomore, who was seeded first in the 5K, grabbed the lead early on and extended his advantage to 7.87 seconds by the time he crossed the finish line. His final time of 14:33.68 was exactly 30 seconds ahead of the third-place finisher.

Freshman Jonathan Fritz was the first Pioneer to earn All-Conference honors of the meet. The dual-athlete took third in the 110m hurdles with a PR time of 15.50. Stade added three points for the Pioneers, when he placed sixth in the event with a PR time of 16.10.

Freshman Noah Nelson was the fifth and final All-Conference honoree for men's track & field. He narrowly edged Whitworth's Adam Callahan in a photo-finish to finish in second place in the 800m with a time of 1:56.13.

Lahusky added his second All-Conference performance of the day and meet in the 200m. He took third place in the 200m with a mark of 22.22.

Senior Sean Bodi earned points for Lewis & Clark in his first collegiate conference championship meet. The senior jumper placed seventh overall in the triple jump. On his sixth and final jump of the day, he posted a PR leap of 13.21m (43-04.25 feet) that helped him move up from ninth (non-scoring) to seventh (two points).

The 4x100m relay team accounted for the Pioneers other five points. The quartet of Fritz, Lahusky, junior Devon Guest and Nelson rounded the track in 42.46 to take fourth place.

Lewis & Clark had a pair of runners compete in the 1,500m. Sophomore Will Dennis took 11^th out of 21 runners with a PR time of 4:01.66. Junior Frankie Reid took 20^th place with a mark of 4:21.29.

In the shot put, freshman Andrew Baum finished in 10^th place. His PR throw of 13.21m (43-04.25 feet) was just shy of earning him a spot in the finals.

Fritz took home 15^th place in the javelin throw. The freshman heaved the javelin 44.12m (144-09 feet) to place 15^th.

The men's 4x400m relay team registered a DNF. The Pioneers were in the lead heading into the fourth and final relay leg but an injury to their final runner caused them to have to withdraw from the event.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Pioneers 77.5 points was a 57.5 point improvement and two places in the standings better than their 2020 finish. Their 77.5 points was the program's most points at an NWC Championship Meet since 1998 when they posted 91 points (4^th out of 5 teams).
Aldrich finished the weekend with a team-high 18 points. He placed second in the 10K on Friday and won the 5K on Saturday. His time of 14:33.68 in the 5K was less than four seconds off the NWC Championship Meet record in the event. Kris Mueller of Linfield won the 5K in 14:29.94 in 1983.
Lahusky's time of 48.66 in the 400m is the fourth-fastest in school history.
Stade moved into the top-10 in school history in the 400m hurdles with his mark of 54.84 (8^th all-time).
The 4x100m team of Fritz, Lahusky, Guest and Nelson posted the 10^th-fastest time in program history in the event. Their mark was just .02 seconds out of finishing in a tie for third and earning All-Conference honors.
Bodi's PR in the triple jump moved him into 17^th place all-time in the event (13.21m).
Fritz (19^th all-time) and Stade (26^th) are now both in the top-30 in program history in the 100m hurdles.
Dennis now sits 33^rd in program history in the 1,500m.
Baum's PR in the shot put pushed him into the top-40 in program history (40^th overall).