ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Hamline men's track and field team hosted their final regular season meet of the year this weekend, as teams competed at the two-day Hamline Showcase. The Pipers had a number of strong individual performances, compiling 16 finishes within the top three.
 
HU had the top-three finishers in the 200-meter dash, as junior Christian Velishek won the event with a time of 22.73. Teammates Josh Peterson and Tae'Vion Wilkins were right behind, with times of 22.87 and 23.30, respectively. All three times were career bests.
 
Velishek also won the high jump with a height of 1.92 meters, coming in ahead of teammates Michael Braun (1.87 meters) and Jarick Rieffer (1.77 meters). Peterson added a fifth-place finish for the Pipers in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.64. First year Michael Latham was next in with a time of 11.85.
 
In the 5000-meter run, senior Fernando Benitez hit a new career-best with a time of 14:35.63, which ranks third on Hamline's all-time list and currently ranks in the top 15 in the nation among Division III runners. He won the event by over eight seconds.
 
In the 110-meter hurdles, junior Zach Angstman came in third with a time of 16.51 and junior Aric Brodie put up a fourth-place finish in the 1500-meter run, with a new PR time of 4:02.40. First years Raul Ortiz and Josh Yeates each participated in the 400-meter run, as Ortiz placed fourth with a time of 55.03 and Yeates placed eighth with a time of 58.39.
 
Over in the field events, Braun finished third in the long jump with a distance of 6.27 meters and junior Thomas Amberg finished fifth with a distance of 5.90 meters. Braun was the only competitor in the triple jump, tying his career-best with a leap of 13.32 meters.
 
First year Josh Lynch was also the only competitor in the pole vault, reaching a height of 4.00 meters. In the javelin, sophomore Sam Dabrowski came in third with a toss of 42.53 meters.
 
In the hammer throw, senior Dylan Rioux came in second for HU, with a season-best distance of 42.08 meters. First year Elliot Lee finished in third with a mark of 33.15 meters. Lee also competed in the discus (34.82 meters) taking fifth, with first year Connor Prok coming in fourth (35.11 meters).
 
Senior Joe Martin tallied an event win on the weekend as well, competing at Gustavus and winning the shot put with a distance of 16.66 meters.
 
The Pipers will compete again next weekend at Macalester.