Both the men and women’s basketball teams fell this week to Augustana on the road.
The women went down with a score of 66-74. Augustana led the entire first half of the game and walked into the locker room with a leading score of 33-21. With 10 minutes left in the game, Brittany Czaplicki drained a free throw to put Millikin in the lead with a score of 50-49. The Vikings ended with a ten point lead with 1:30 left to play and continued on to complete their victory with the score 74-66.
This loss has the possibility to affect Millikin’s chance to fourth place in the conference and earning a spot in the CCIW Championships. Elmhurst and North Park, the two teams currently ahead of the Big Blue in conference standings, both lost but North Central upset Illinois Wesleyan moving them past Millikin in conference standings. That loss puts Millikin at 9-13 on the season. There are now three teams battling for fourth place now have four conference victories. Millikin hosted North Park on Feb. 15. Results of that game will be in the next issue.
The men’s basketball team also fell to Augustana at the Griswold Center with a score of 59-74. Augustana dominated the Big Blue men in both the shooting and rebounding game. Augustana had 12 different players score throughout the game and sailed their way to an easy victory. The men also had a home game against North Park on Feb. 15 and results for that game will follow in the next issue as well. The men fall to a disheartening 7-15 further eliminating them from a possible playoff appearance.
The men’s and women’s swim teams competed in the CCIW Championships this past weekend. The event started on Thursday Feb. 15 and continued through Saturday Feb. 15. The announcement of whether or not the teams make the NCAA Division III Championships will come at a later time. Results of the CCIW Championships will be printed in the next issue.
Men’s and women’s Track and Field teams continue to soar as the men take eighth and the women take ninth in their perspective divisions at the Illinois Wesleyan’s Keck Invite. The men’s team had six individuals place within the confines of Millikin’s Top 10 performers on the day. For the 4×400 Relay, Jordan McCall, Trevor Crum, Jacob Segrest and Alex Kemp finished with a time of 3:28.18, which places them on the board at number two all-time. Kemp also finished in fifth in the 200 meters with a time of 23.04 seconds. Jacob Griffith also made an appearance in the Top 10 performances by placing fifth in the 5000 meters with a time of 16:12.01 which is #8 all-time. Other notable performances came from Timothee McElroy and Sendin Bajric. Both ran the 3000 meters with McElroy finishing in fourth with a time of 9:38.17 and Bajric finished in fifth with a time of 9:45.46. The highest performance for men on the day came from Dustin Roth. Roth, who is the only person in Millikin’s history to run in the hepthalon, set a school record with the score of 4,192 points.
The women’s track team had three athletes finish in the Top 10 performance chart on the day. Sarah Bradley ran in the 800 meter event and finished with a time of 2:28.01 placing her number five all-time. Amanda Meekers ran in the 5000 meters and finished with a time of 19:49.66. That time places her at number seven on the all-time performance chart. The final Top 10 performance on the day goes to Amanda Morgan, who participated in the Weight Throw. Morgan threw for 13.01 meters which puts her at number seven all-time and eighth in the event itself. Morgan also competed in the Shot Put and placed seventh with a distance of 10.69 meters. Other notable performances came from Jordan Harris, who participated in both the Shot Put and the Wright Throw as well. Harris placed fifth in the Shot Put with a distance of 11.43 meters. Harris also placed fifth in the Weight Throw with a distance of 13.82 meters. Both the men and women of Blue Smoke competed in the Depauw Invite on Feb. 15 with results to be posted in the next issue.