The Valparaiso men's track and field team completed the final day of competition at the Mid-Continent Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships Monday in Bloomington, Ill. Eric Smith (Portage, Ind./Portage) led the Crusaders with a third-place finish in the shot put, pacing three Crusaders in the top-eight in the event.

Valpo put up 40 points as a team, finishing fifth, just six points shy of fourth-place UMKC. Southern Utah took the team title with 206 points.

Smith surpassed his previous personal best in the shot put by over a foot, registering a toss of 46'9 ½". Steve Bartholomew (Valparaiso, Ind./Morgan Township) finished sixth in the same event, improving on his personal record in the event by over four feet with a mark of 46'4 ¼". Christopher Stohs (Shawnee, Kan./Shawnee Mission North) recorded a toss of 41'4 ¼", good for an eighth-place finish and also bettering his PR.

Three other Valpo athletes posted top-eight finishes, scoring points for the Crusaders Monday. Leandro Schultz (Valley View, Ohio/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) came home fifth in the 5,000m run with a time of 15:37.11. Chris Honig (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard South [Indiana]) crossed the line in 4:23.67 in the mile run, good for eighth place.

Tom Heun (Brecksville, Ohio/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) also posted an eighth-place finish in the triple jump, leaping 40'2 ¼". Rich Krupar III (Elyria, Ohio/Midview) finished just outside the top-eight in the 800m run, but posted the fifth-best time in Crusader history in the event, crossing the line in 1:58.79. The Crusader 4x400m relay team of Heun, Bryan Gill (Columbia City, Ind./Columbia City), Ben Radke (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge) and Jules Gilimpundu (Kigali, Rwanda/Stony Brook [N.Y.] School) came home fifth with a time of 3:31.73.