MONMOUTH, Ill. (Duhawks.com) – In the second meet of the Loras College Indoor Track and Field season, the Duhawks saw standout performances across the board. While team scores were not kept, Loras had five first place finishes and four second place finishes on the day.

Standout performances on the women's side came from sophomore Elizabeth Brandenburg and senior Morgan Steere. Brandenburg had a repeat performance of the Sol Butler Classic of a week ago, taking home the title in both the 60m hurdles with a time of 9.21 seconds and the pole vault with a season's best 3.41m vault.

Steere finished first in the women's shot put with a throw of 12.54m.

Joining Brandenburg and Steere at the front of the pack were freshman Alyssa Simon and junior Bree Powers. Simon took second in the 60m dash in a time of 8.25 seconds and Powers finished third in the same race with a time of 8.29 seconds. Powers also finished fourth in the 300m dash in 44.04 seconds with sophomore Katie Swoboda finishing in fifth with a time of 48.34 seconds.

In the women's 600m, seniors Emily Sotelo and Mercedez Kennedy finished third and fourth with times of 1:46.58 and 1:48.28 respectively. Freshman Sydney Brokaw took fifth place in the mile with a time of 5:39.50.

In the 3K, junior Bri Cook finished second with a time of 11:06.78 and freshman Kelly Minear finished in 11:38.84, good for fifth place. Sophomore Audrey Hooks finished second to Brandenburg in the 60m hurdles with a time of 9.89 seconds.

In the field events, sophomore Amy Gladis finished second to Brandenburg in the pole vault, clearing a height of 3.11m. Freshman Sarah Schoel continued her impressive first year in the long jump with a second-place distance of 4.99m. Joining her in the long jump was sophomore Amelia Acompanado, who placed fifth with a distance of 4.77m. In addition to winning the women's shot put, Steere finished second in the weight throw with a season's best throw of 15.22m.

The women's 4x200 relay team had a successful day, finishing second with team members Simon, sophomore Alexis Hanson, freshman Emily Ney, and freshman Devin Hasson, finishing in 1:54.77. The women's 4x400 relay team of Hanson, Schoel, Ney, and Simon also finished second with a time of 4:15.99.

On the men's side, there were more big hitters with top-five finishes.

Senior Zach Frey was the lone winner for Loras, claiming top honors for the second straight week, this time in the 800m with a time of 1:56.80.

Frey attributes his hot start to some changes he made in the off-season, "I would have to say my diet really changed. I've gone gluten-free and lactose-free so that's really helped out."

Frey also believes that the best start of the year hasn't come from himself, but from the men's 4x400 relay team.

"I can't say enough about Zac Gassman's senior leadership going out there and running a great split. Our goal is to keep improving each week and qualify for nationals."
 
In the 400m dash, senior Zac Gassman finished in a time of 52.61 seconds, good for fifth place. In addition to Frey's victory in the 800m, fellow junior Matt Marter placed fifth with a time of 2:01.58.

In the men's weight throw, senior Nathan Meiers and sophomore Zach Soer both had season's best throws of 15.52m and 14.48m to finish in second and fifth place, respectively.

The men's 4x400 relay team finished in third place with junior Stedman Foster, sophomore Brandon Gradoville, Frey, and Gassman in a time 3:24.77.

After a week break, the Duhawks will take to the track at the Illinois Wesleyan Invite on February 5 in Bloomington, Illinois.