ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Despite most athletes resting for the upcoming Northwest Conference T&F Championships, Whitworth was still able to post a strong performance at the Spike Arlt Invitational, hosted by Central Washington University. As they have much of the season, Whitworth's throwers led the way. Erica Cox set a school record while finishing second in the hammer throw. Her mark of 157'-0" is an NCAA Division III provisional national qualifying mark and broke the previous school record of 149'-10" set by Nicole Marich in 2001. Meanwhile Jeff Kintner won the men's shot put with a season-best throw of 55'-4.75" inches. That mark may lead the nation at the Division III level after this weekend. The previous national-leading throw heading into the weekend was 55'-2.75". Alex Hymel (184'-4"), Andrew Deneven (182'-6") and Mike Wemple (179'-3") finished 1-2-3, respectively, in the men's javelin on Saturday. Joey VanHoomissen posted a pair of runner-up finishes in the hammer throw (172'-4") and the discus (152'-6"). Both are season-best marks for VanHoomissen and the hammer distance meets the NCAA provisional qualifying standard. Next week Whitworth will compete at the 2009 NWC Championships, hosted by Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. The Pirate men head into the meet as defending champions. |
