Pirate Men Roll, Bearcat Women Storm From Behind SPOKANE, Wash. -- Willamette University stormed from behind to win its ninth straight Northwest Conference women's track & field championship, while Whitworth University rolled to a dominating victory in the men's half of the meet at the 2010 NWC Championships on Saturday at Whitworth's Boppell Track. Early on during Saturday's events George Fox took a lead in the women's meet that reached nearly 40 points. Irene Johnson won the 100 hurdles (14.65) and 100 dash (12.36), while Beth Stam (143-3) won the javelin for the Bruins. But Willamette began to chip away at the lead, led by Jennifer Luecht. Luecht won the 200 (25.36) and 400 (57.30) and anchored the Bearcats to a win in the 4x400 relay (4:01.88) that clinched the championship. Willamette got big points in the 800 and 1,500 as well. Erynn Rebol won the 800 in 2:22.34, while Kimber Mattox won the 1,500 in 4:44.11. The Bearcats had three among the top five finishers in each. Alyssa Turner gave George Fox a sweep of the hurdles races with a 1:06.19 in the 400 distance. Pacific Lutheran defended its title in the 4x100 relay with a time of 48.33. Rachel Siebuhr gave Willamette a big win in the triple jump with her mark of 36'-2". In addition to Stam's win in the javelin, GFU got a boost when Marlee Zakrevsky was a surprise winner of the hammer throw (159-1). Other field event winners in the women's meet on Saturday included Whitworth's Amy Wyatt in the shot put (40-7.75) and Chelsea Machida of Linfield in the high jump (5-3.25), who edged Alla Khalitova of Lewis & Clark on number of misses. Willamette edged George Fox 161-156 and the five-point margin is the closest in Northwest Conference women's championship history. The final women's team scores: Willamette 161, George Fox 156, Whitworth 119.5, Linfield 113.5, Pacific Lutheran 84, Lewis & Clark 81, Puget Sound 75, Pacific (Ore.) 23. The close final margin was reflected in the final awards. GFU's Johnson and Willamette's Luecht shared Women's Athlete of the Meet. John Smith of GFU and Matt McGuirk of Willamette shared the Women's Coach of the Year award. By contrast, the men's meet was a runaway as Whitworth scored 266 points to win by 82 points over defending champion Willamette. The Pirates came into the day with a 57-point lead and stretched that advantage to nearly 100 points after only two events. Jeff Kintner tied the meet record while leading a 1-2-3 Pirate finish in the shot put with a throw of 56'-11.5". Whitworth then got plenty of unexpected points by finishing 2-3-5-6 in the triple jump behind winner I.V. Reeves of PLU (44-8). The Pirates continued to dominate the throwing events when Kintner added a victory in the hammer throw (177-9) to lead a 1-3-4 finish for Whitworth. Whitworth won all four throwing events over the weekend and finished 1-2-3 shot and discus and 1-2 in the javelin. Kintner, who added a third-place finish in the discus on Friday, was named the Outstanding Men's Athlete of the Meet. Emmanuel Bofa, the two-time defending NCAA Division III champion in the 800 run, earned his first conference title in that event with a 1:52.00, leading a dominating performance by the Pirates. Whitworth finished 1-2-3-4-6 in the 800 for 32 points in a single event. Steven Acosta came from behind on the final lap to win the 1,500 run in 3:57.84. Nick Gallagher also came from behind on the final lap to win the 5,000 in 15:11.33, giving Whitworth five individual event winners on Saturday. Paul Winger did his best to help Willamette's cause, winning the 200 dash (21.98), 400 dash (48.98) and holding off Bofa down the stretch on the final leg of the 4x400 relay (3:20.03). The Bearcats also won the 4x100 relay in 42.11. George Fox's Dakarai Kongela defended his title in the 100 dash, overcoming PLU's Reeves in the final 20 meters to win in 10.83. Fellow Bruin Nate Dillow won the 110 hurdles in 15.76. Chester Holt joined fellow Lute Reeves atop the award stand when he won a jump-off with Linfield's Jeremy Lovell in the pole vault after both athletes cleared 14-8. The final men's team scores were: Whitworth 266, Willamette 185, Linfield 110.5, Pacific Lutheran 89, George Fox 82.5, Puget Sound 30, Pacific (Ore.) 29 and Lewis & Clark 23. Whitworth's Toby Schwarz was named the Men's Coach of the Year. Go to Athletics Home Page > Track & Field > Sports Releases > |
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