DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Vikings traveled to Dubuque for the MoCo Mercer Challenge on Saturday. A number of personal bests were had, along with several top-placing finishes.

Sophomore AJ Banks earned a personal best in the 60m hurdles, finishing in second place with a time of 8.55 seconds. This new best improves upon his previously held top ten Augustana ranking. Banks was joined in finals by Bayley Pierce, Brayden Veil, and Mike Hudson who finished in fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively.

Banks returned to the track for the 300m dash, where he had a successful run, finishing 10^th with a time of 37.43. Banks was joined by Jad Massouh who won his heat to finish eighth with a time of 36.98.

Both Banks and Massouh also found success in the 4x400m relay to finish third, along with freshmen relay teammates Beans Rice and Jaymel Brackens. The relay ran a time of 3:31.58.

In the field events, sophomore Caden Eller finished seventh in the high jump with a leap of 1.85m (6' ¾") and third in the long jump with a mark of 6.63m (21' 9"), both new personal bests. Collin Ferry finished fourth in the pole vault with an effort of 3.65m (11' 11 ¾").

Magnus Wells returned to the ring on Saturday after a successful Friday afternoon at the Larry Wieczorek Invitational. Wells' attempts, a fifth-place finish in the shot put (13.70m – 44'11 ¼") and a first place finish in the weight throw (16.65m – 54' 8") highlighted the men's throws.

Augustana will return to action on Friday, January 31 at the Leonard "Squig" Converse Invitational in Whitewater, Wisconsin.