SALEM, Ore. - Kristin Dormaier and Ben Spaun of Whitworth finished second and third, respectively, today at the Northwest Conference Multi-Event Championships at Willamette University. Dormaier posted an NCAA provisional qualifying score of 4,133 points while finishing second in the heptathlon, while Spaun scored 6,416 points in the decathlon to improve his provisional NCAA qualification.
Men's Decathlon Results / Women's Heptathlon Results (PDF) Dormaier finished second to three-time defending champion Brooke Barker of Pacific, who scored 4,196 points. Dormaier did not win any individual events in the seven-event competition, but was consistently solid throughout the meet. Her best event was the long jump with a distance of 16'-2.5". Dormaier also gave Whitworth eight points toward the Pirates' team score at the NWC Championships April 20-21 in Tacoma (UPS). Dormaier's previous best score was 3,904 points at the Whitworth Multi-Event meet March 15-16. Spaun finished third in one of the most competitive NWC decathlon competitions in years. Four athletes scored 6,300 or better and all of the scores are strong NCAA provisional marks. Ryan Forbes of George Fox won with a score of 6,454, while Josh Lovell of Linfield finished second with 6,449. Spaun's score was only 38 points behind Forbes.
Spaun won four of the ten individual competitions. He was first in the shot put (37'-1.75") and 400 dash (50.36) on the first day, and was the winner of the 110HH (15.40) and 1,500 run (4:35.10) on the second day. He gave the Pirates six points heading into the NWC Championships. Spaun had posted his original NCAA provisional qualifying score of 6,138 points at the Whitworth Multi-Event meet in March. In addition to Dormaier and Spaun, three other Pirates competed in the meet in their first-ever tries at multi-event competitions. Suzy Viducich just missed scoring in the heptathlon, finishing 9th with a score of 3,227. Mathew Perry and Curtis Powell finished 10th (4,858) and 11th (4,723), respectively, in the decathlon. |
