By GUY PERRIN
Staff Writer
Brady Beagley, Badane Sultessa and Stephanie Stuckey will all travel to Birmingham, Ala. to compete at the D-II national indoor meet on Mar. 13-14. Beagley and Stuckey will both race the mile while Sultessa will compete in the 800.
Beagley is ranked 13th in the field of competitors with the third fastest time in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference this season at 4:08:53. His time is also a school record, 0.46 faster than former Wolf Chris Reed who set the record during his 2011 season. Beagley will compete against 16 runners with the top 10 advancing to finals.
Sultessa, in his first season at Western, is ranked eighth with his second all-time school history time of 1:51.22. His time is also the second fastest time in GNAC history. A past GNAC track athlete of the week, Sultessa is racing his way to becoming just the third NCAA All-American in this event for Western. Also one of 16 runners in the preliminaries, Sultessa must finish in the top eight to advance to finals.
Stuckey enters the mile ranked 12th with a time of 4:56.18, a second all-time in school history mark, behind Selina Stanton, a former Wolf who set the record in 1988. Stuckey is one of 18 runners to compete in the preliminaries of the mile with the top 10 moving to the finals.
“Running at nationals is such a blessing,” Stuckey said. “I will be running with and against terrific competition and represent Western at a national level. I have been so overwhelmed with this journey to nationals because it happened so fast.
“I went from running in the slow heat at conference with no time for the mile and then national qualifying in a matter of days,” Stuckey said. “I am so thankful for this opportunity. It just goes to show where hard work can take you.”
Outdoor season starts with Willamette Opener
Western’s track team competed in their first outdoor meet of the season this past weekend, traveling to Salem to run on the campus of Willamette University Saturday, March 7. The men and women both took home victories, with the men’s team winning by 35 points and the women securing a 49-point victory.
In the field events, a trio of throwers took home victories and also hit NCAA D-II provisional marks with Amanda Short and Justin Larson winning the women’s and men’s javelin events and Emmi Collier in the shot put. Collier was the first among five Wolves that finished in the top five in the shot put and also took home the victory in the women’s hammer throw event.
In the men’s discus, Kenny Klippel and Jeremy Moore took first and second place with throws of 41.26 and 41.02 meters, respectively. In the men’s long jump, Cody Warner jumped 6.42 meters to claim victory.
In the track events, Warner placed first in two events, winning the 100 meter with a time of 10.68 seconds as well as the 200 in dominating fashion, clocking in at 21.51.
The women swept the podium in the 400-meter hurdles race as Audrey Hellesto, Sara Madden, and Felicia Covey finished 1-2-3 with times of 1:06.37, 1:07.99, and 1:09.21 respectively.
Stephanie Stuckey and Bailey Beeson finished first and second in the women’s 800, finishing in nearly identical times of 2:15.58 and 2:15.73, with a five-second personal best for Stuckey.
