KENOSHA, Wis. – Senior Travon Aldridge (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, Ill.) won the "Field Athlete of the Meet" title at the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Indoor Track & Field Championships on Saturday, February 24 at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Aldridge's effort helped his Augustana team finish second in the team standings in the nine-team meet which took place over two days.
 
Aldridge won the triple jump on Saturday with a leap of 47' 9 ¾" and that spearheaded a one-two-four finish for the Vikings in the event. Senior Evan Murphy (Buffalo Grove HS, Arlington Heights, Ill.) took second with a leap of 46' 7 ¼" and freshman Mason Wright (Polo HS, Woosung, Ill.) was fourth at 45' 10". On Friday Aldridge placed second in the long jump with a mark of 22' 11 ¾". Also on Saturday, he was third in the 55 with a time of :06.52.
 
Junior Michael Johnson (Owensboro HS, Owensboro, Ky.) was a double winner as he took both the 55 (:06.44) and the 200 (:22.48).
 
North Central won the team title with 240.5 points while Augustana, under the direction of veteran head coach Paul Olsen in his final indoor championship meet, was second with 175.5. Wheaton was third with 70 and Carthage took fourth with 69. Illinois Wesleyan (41), Carroll (27), Millikin (25), Elmhurst (10) and North Park (5) rounded out the field.
 
The Vikings finished second in four events on the final day of competition. The 4x400 relay unit of seniors Josh Yamamoto (Fremd HS, Palatine, Ill.), Jeffrey Swanson (Winnebago HS, Winnebago, Ill.), Alex LaMendola (Dixon HS, Dixon, Ill.) and Kyle Hucker (Wauconda HS, Wauconda, Ill.) took second in 3:19.09. Yamamoto placed second in the 400 in :49.63 with Hucker fourth (:50.34) and Swanson fifth (:50.54). Yamamoto was also sixth in the 200 (:22.81) and Swanson took seventh (:22.84).
 
Senior Ethan Ehlers (St. Joseph HS, Kenosha, Wis.) took second in the shot put with a toss of 52' 8 ¾" while senior Keith King, Jr. (Peoria Richwoods HS, Peoria, Ill.) was third (52' 1 ¾") and senior Kevin Barbian (Libertyville HS, Libertyville, Ill.) was fourth (51' 0 ¼").
 
Senior Andrew Adams (Downers Grove North HS, Downers Grove, Ill.) placed second in the heptathlon with 4,266 points. Freshman Peyton Couch (Ottawa HS, Marseilles, Ill.) finished fourth with 4,245 points and freshman Urvaksh Avanthsa (Cary-Grove HS, Cary, Ill.) took seventh with 3,367 points.
 
Junior Clayton Sommers (Saydel HS, Des Moines, Iowa) placed third in the 55 hurdles in :08.04 with freshman Paul Cabrera (Galesburg HS, Galesburg, Ill.) grabbing eighth (:08.31).
 
Freshman Ryan Thornton (Limestone HS, Mapleton, Ill.) was sixth in the high jump with a leap of 6' 4 3/4" and freshman Noah Patterson (Mattoon HS, Mattoon, Ill.) placed seventh in the 55 in :06.64. Sophomore Nick Harvey (Burlington Central HS, Elgin, Ill.) was seventh in the 800 in 1:57.62. Junior Brandon Wilkerson (Tri-Point HS, Stelle, Ill.) finished seventh in both the mile (4:22.52) and the 3000 (8:46.79).
 
Augustana will send a few athletes to the Wartburg Invitational on Saturday, March 3 in Waverly, Iowa.