IWU Sports

26 May 2004

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Junior Jake Clough has been chosen as the “Most Valuable Perfomer” for the Illinois Wesleyan University men's track team.

Clough (Carbondale HS) ran to a third place finish with a finals time of 51.25 in the 400 at the outdoor College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin meet and also ran a leg on the school-record 4x100 relay team that clocked a time of 42 seconds at the CCIW meet.

Clough was also part of two indoor school record relay teams, running with both the 4x200 and 4x400

In other team honors, Nick Burge (Lake Zurich HS) was selected as IWU's “Most Valuable Freshman” while senior Joe Binder (Decatur, St. Teresa HS) earned the “Team PlayerAward.”

Burge had IWU’s best indoor 400 time of 51.04 seconds, good for a fifth place finish in the CCIW meet, and he joined Clough as part of the school-record indoor 4x400 relay team. He also got fifth in the CCIW outdoor 400 with a time of 52.43 seconds.

Binder logged the school’s low time in the outdoor 10,000 meter run with a time of 34:49.17 at Indianapolis on March 27.

Junior sprinter Tyler Neal (Bloomington HS) set school outdoor records in both the 100 and 200. His 100 time of 10.94 bested the mark of 11.05 set by Harold Gauthier in 2000 and Neal’s 200 run of 22.14 seconds eclipsed the standard of 22.54 held by Martez Clark since 2000.

Neal and Clough teamed with sophomore Erich Sauer (Elgin, Larkin HS) and junior Zach Gorsage (Washington, Peoria Notre Dame HS) to set the 4x100 outdoor relay school record, besting the old mark of 42.5 seconds that had held at IWU since 1991.

Gorsage, an indoor All-American in 2003 when he finished seventh at the national meet in the 55 hurdles, had an indoor qualifying time of 7.61 seconds in the 55 hurdles, 10th best in the country heading into the indoor national meet, but he failed to reach the finals at the national meet, suffering an injury during the preliminary qualifying. His provisional qualifying time of 14.83 in the 110 hurdles was not among the low 16 to compete in the national outdoor meet.

Freshman Jon Blome (Pekin HS) was also an NCAA indoor provisional qualifier with a pole vault of 15 feet, 3 inches.

Head men’s coach Jason Williams awarded letters to 18 men, including 15 who will return next season. The letterwinners are, with hometowns and high schools:

SENIORS – Kwabena Appentang (Accra, Ghana); Joe Binder (Decatur, St. Teresa HS); Jon Meade (Champaign, Centennial HS).

JUNIORS – Mike Bragg (Shorewood, Joliet West HS); Jake Clough (Carbondale HS); Chip Corwin (Cadillac, Mich., HS); Josh Evans (Sycamore HS); Zach Gorsage (Washington, Peoria Notre Dame HS); Tim Hachmeister (Elmhurst, IMSA); Tyler Neal (Bloomington HS).Clint Warren (Ottawa, Serena HS).

SOPHOMORES – Erich Sauer (Elgin, Larkin HS); Bryan Timm (Aurora, Marmion Academy HS).

FRESHMEN – Jon Blome (Pekin HS); Adam Bohr (North Aurora, Aurora Central Catholic HS); Nick Burge (Lake Zurich HS); William Forsberg (Homewood, Homewood-Flossmoor HS); Mike Nicoletti (Lake Zurich HS).

Jake Clough Named IWU Men's Track "Most Valuable"