GENEVA, Ohio– The Northwest Conference was well represented over the weekend at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, held in Geneva, Ohio. 26 students-athletes from the Northwest Conference qualified for the National Championships, 12 of which held top 10 rankings heading into the Championships.
Track Events
In the track events, George Fox’s Aidan Arthur represented the Northwest Conference in the 1500 meters, placing 13th with a time of 3:54.18. Also competing in the mid-distance events for the Bruins was Ellie Rising, who ran a finals qualifying time of 4:31.45 in the prelims, and placed 12th in the finals with a time of 4:44.44. Rising went on to place 9th in the women’s 800 meters, running a time of 2:11.38.
Rounding out the distance events and solo competitor sent from Lewis & Clark was Riley Buese, who ran both the 5,000 meter and the 10,000 meter this weekend. In the 5k, Buese finished with a personal best time of 16:30.64 to finish third in the nation. Two days prior, Buese claimed a second place finish in the 10k, running a time of 34:20.14 to claim the silver.
The Puget Sound Loggers sent three short distance runners to the National Championships including Kyrstin Wilson in the women’s 100m dash, who ran a time of 12.06 to place 20th overall. Elizabeth Beiswanger ran a 400 meter time of 55.95 to finish 15th overall, while in the men’s 400 Alexander Rhodes unfortunately was DQ’d.
Pacific’s lone competitor– junior Allyson Hammond– ran a competitive race in the women’s 100m hurdles, placing 5th in the nation with a time of 13.96.
Whitworth's solo track athlete Emily Brown ran a prelims time of 1:02.41 in the 400m hurdles to finish 11th in the nation.
Field Events
The Bruins got off to a strong start In the field events, marked by Ellena Corwin’s 10th place finish in the javelin (39.24m) and Grace Tully in the women’s pole vault, who finished in 17th place with a vault of 3.60 meters. Fox’s Darrin Campbell finished 19th in the men’s javelin (55.40m), while in the men’s high jump James King finished 18th, unable to register a jump in the finals.
Whitworth sent 7 student-athletes to the National Championships, most of whom competed in field events. Junior Amblessed Okemgbo qualified for both the women’s discus (No. 10) and shot put (No. 7) for the NCAA Championships– she started the weekend off strong by placing 2nd in the nation with a throw of 45.95 meters in the women’s discus. In the shot put, Okemgbo finished in 8th place (13.92m), followed by Pirate Madison Carr in 9th place (13.91m). In the women’s javelin, sophomore Devyn Chelin entered the Championships at the No. 21 ranking, and made an exciting jump by finishing in 7th (40.48m). Brianna Tira finished in 15th place in the high jump with a jump of 1.60 meters. In the men’s javelin, Cody Wheeler finished in 22nd place after two scratch throws, finishing with a throw of 52.75 meters. Junior Eddie Vu represented the Pirates in the men’s discus, placing 10th in the nation with a throw of 47.31 meters.
The Willamette Bearcats sent two athletes to the National Championships– Steeley Mucken (men’s javelin) and Erica Snyder (women’s high jump). Steeley Mucken put up an impressive throw in the javelin to earn 5th place (65.30m), while Erica Snyder placed 17th with a jump of 1.60 meters.
Darrius Chaffin was the lone competitor sent from Pacific Lutheran’s track & field team, and threw an 18th place finish of 55.70 meters in the men’s javelin. Similarly, Kira Hawaaboo of Linfield was the solo representative for the Wildcats, competing in the long jump and the heptathlon. Hawaaboo finished in 22nd place with a jump of 5.31 meters.
In the multis, three George Fox Men competed in the men’s decathlon, while Linfield’s Hawaaboo and Fox’s Jenna Huntsman competed in the women’s heptathlon. Finishing in the top spot for Fox’s men was Max Ashour, placing 15th; followed by Blake Smith, placing 17th; and Tom McMillan, placing 19th. On the women’s side, Huntsman finished in 19th, while Hawaaboo did not finish all events, thus not completing the total heptathlon scoring.