Taylor Men Compete at Midwest Invite

MARION, Ind. – The Taylor men's indoor track and field team battled to four individual wins, five NAIA standards and one new program record while in action on Saturday at the Midwest Invite, hosted by Indiana Wesleyan.

The victories came from a trio of Trojans, with Damon Knowles winning the pole vault, Sammy Sommers topping the competition in the long jump and 60-meter hurdles and Nate Conkel taking first in the 800-meters.

Knowles led Isaac Brown and Josh Forbes in the pole vault, clearing a height of 4.85 meters to once again surpass the automatic qualifying mark for NAIA Nationals. Brown followed in third with a NAIA B-standard and Forbes took fourth to round out TU's strongest event of the afternoon.

Conkel automatically qualified for Nationals with the third-best time in the NAIA this season in the 800. Conkel crossed in 1:53.35 to win the event, and that mark converted to 1:51.76 to put the junior among the NAIA's elite. Following Conkel in the event for Taylor was Ben Eiffert, who finished in fourth.

Sommers was at his winning ways yet again, posting a mark of 6.94 meters to win the long jump and a time of 8.45 seconds to win the 60-meter hurdles.

Despite not recording individual wins, Liam Hesting and Luke Harber also had attention-worthy performances, as Hesting finished second in the weight throw, broke the Taylor record and posted the seventh-best mark in the NAIA this season with a NAIA A-standard of 18.33 meters. Hesting also finished fifth in the shot put, while Harber took second in the 5,000-meters and provisionally qualified for Nationals with his time of 15:10.75.

Aidan Guckenberger also provided a runner-up showing, taking second in the 400-meters at 52.24 seconds.

No. 20 Taylor will return to action on February 17 and 18, when it takes aim at the 2023 Crossroads League Indoor Track and Field Championships.