By Rachel Shelley Staff writer
The men and women’s track team split up this past weekend to take on four separate meets along the West Coast in California and Portland.
At the Bryan Clay Invitational hosted by Azusa Pacific, Kaleb Dobson started the meet with a win in his section of the 110 meter-hurdles in 15.37 seconds, finishing 13th overall. Bailey Beeson ran a personal best and ninth all-time program history mark in the 800 in 2:14.07. Kenny Klippel threw a personal best in the shot put with 14.01 meters, improving his mark by 0.06 meters.
In the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, Calif., 1,500 competitors Rachel Crawford and Sam Naffziger both hit personal records with Crawford running 4:34.93 and Naffziger, 3:51.76. Crawford’s time puts her third all-time in program history for the Wolves. Naffziger’s time placed him eight all-time for the Wolves program history and earned him a provisional time for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships.
“It feels good to have a provo,” said Naffziger. “It makes me feel really good that all my hard work is paying off. It motivates me to keep working hard to improve my time and get into the national meet.”
Stephanie Stuckey also competed in the 1500, finishing in 4:40.28. Josh Hanna and Badane Sultessa finished the 800 in 1:51.62 and 1:51.74, respectively.
The following day, the Wolves competed at the Beach Track & Field Invitational, hosted by Long Beach State. 23 personal bests were run on Saturday.
Beeson and Crawford raced towards lifetime bests in the 800 with 2:13.67 and 2:17.80, respectively.
“Mentally, it was huge for me to finally see improvement from all the work I’ve been putting in,” Beeson said. “The last eight races in a row I had run within .3 seconds of the same time which was so frustrating. Nothing huge happened in the race that led me to the time, I was just feeling good and able to hang on to the girl in front of me.”
Kylie Reinholdt and Kathryn Kaonis set lifetime bests in their events and Suzanne Van De Grift ran a season best. Reinholdt ran 13.11 in the 100 while Kaonis threw 32.03 in the discus.
Josh Dempsey set a lifetime best in the 800 on the men’s side in 1:54.16. Kegan Allen would throw 41.69 in the discus, earning him a 10th place overall in the GNAC ranking and a lifetime best.
Back in Portland, 16 lifetime bests were set with the women’s side taking care of nine and the men’s posting seven.
Sylvia Dean threw two lifetime bests in the shot put and hammer throw, both top 10 finishes. She threw 10.94 in the shot put for a sixth place finish and 40.77 meters in the hammer throw for eighth place. Nicole Anderson ran a lifetime best in the 800 in 2:23.31, finishing eighth behind Amanda Ditzhazy who also ran a lifetime best in the 800 with 2:20.89, placing sixth overall. Sara Madden ran 1:07.78 in the 400 hurdles for a fourth place finish while Lauren Hiland also posted a lifetime best mark of 5.10 in the long jump.
In the shot put, two lifetime bests and two season bests were set on the women’s side. Leah Nicklason joined Dean for a lifetime best throw of 11.53 meters, finishing third overall. Allison Cook and Emily Wetherell posted season best marks with throws of 11.29 and 10.39 meters respectively, for fourth and 10th place overall. Wetherell also had a lifetime best in the hammer throw, tossing 45.10, finishing third overall. Sheila Limas De La Cruz would throw her lifetime best in the hammer throw with 42.19, winning her flight and placing fifth overall.
Dustin Camarillo and Chris Mudder each set two lifetime best marks. Camarillo finished the 100 in 11.87 seconds before finishing second overall in the 110 hurdles with 15.81. Mudder threw 34.56 in the discus, winning his flight and then 33.73 in the hammer throw.
Frank Calzada threw a lifetime best in the shot put, placing ninth overall with 12.58. Lucas Clark finished sixth in the hammer with a lifetime best of 40.66. Gabriel McKay also posted a lifetime mark of 12.64 in the triple jump while Rihei Grothman’s lifetime best in the 110 hurdles put him just behind Camarillo with 16.17 seconds.
Finally, Joe Soik would run a season-best in the 1500 meters in 4:12.38, just 0.03 seconds behind his lifetime best.
The Wolves slow down for their last week before GNAC championship on May 8-9. The Titan Twilight at Lane Community College was hosted on Thursday, April 23 and the GNAC Multi Championships will be hosted in Lacey, Wash. on April 27-28.
