Track makes noise at NWC champs

Ross Passeck, Associate editor

The Linfield Wildcats had many top performances at the Northwest Conference Championships, which was held on April 22 and 23 at Lewis and Clark College.

Both the men and women’s teams finished among the top-three teams overall. The men had a score of 105.5 points and the women scored 97 points.

Whitworth took the victory on both the men and women’s side.

From the Wildcat men’s team, the upper classmen lead the charge.

Junior Jake Mihelich took first in the 200-meters and 400m dash with a time of 21.50 and 47.88 seconds.

Mihelich anchored the runner-up 4X100m relay and the runner-up 4X400m relay.

The men’s 4X100m relay, which consisted of Kane Kennedy, Ryan Orlandini, Spencer Payne and Mihelich, placed second in a time of 42.26.

The men’s 4X400m relay consisted of Steven Holland, Manuel Finley, Kennedy and Mihelich and also finished second in a time of 3:17.57, which puts the team among the top-10 all time at Linfield.

Other members of the relay also contributed to team points by placing in their individual events.

Finley placed second in the 800m with a time of 1:54.34 seconds, and Holland placed seventh in the high jump with a clearance of 1.89 meters.

Senior JC Grim placed fifth in the men’s high jump, clearing the bar at 1.94 meters. Grim also placed third in the long jump in a distance of 6.82m and fifth in the triple jump with a mark of 13.18m.

Junior Taylor Vicknair placed seventh in the men’s 110m hurdles in a time of 16.10.

Junior Dallas Fagen placed fourth in the pole vault, clearing the bar at 4.28m, and Junior Hayden Davisson tied for fifth with a height of 4.13m.

In the men’s shot put, sophomore Jeff Lieder threw 14.26m for a fourth place effort. Sophomore Ryne Fuhrmark placed sixth with a mark of 13.67m and junior Scott Anderson threw 13.07m to finish eighth.

Lieder also placed seventh in the men’s discus with a mark of 41.07m.

Senior Morgunn Ewing placed fifth in the men’s javelin with a mark of 56.33m. Close behind were teammates Senior Chris Beresford, who placed sixth with a mark of 55.34m, and Grim who placed seventh, throwing 54.28m.

On the women’s side, junior Dallas Edge placed fourth in the women’s 100m in a time of 12.84 and won the women’s 100m hurdles in a time of 14.86.

Freshman Kycie Richwine and sophomore Olivia Bannerot placed seventh and eighth in the hurdles. Richwine had a time of 15.74 and Bannerot ran 16.72.

Senior Brenna Gomez snuck some points in for the ’Cats by placing eighth in the women’s 100m in a time of 13.02. Gomez also placed seventh in the women’s 200m in a time of 26.22 and seventh in the women’s long jump in a distance of 5.31m.

Bannerot also placed fourth in the long jump with a mark of 5.46m and third in the javelin with a throw of 41.53m.

Sophomore Kaelia Neal and freshman Courtney Beard represented the distances on the women’s side.

Neal third in the women’s 1500m in a time of 4:44.59 and fifth in the 800m in a time of 2:20.25 while Beard placed seventh in both the 5000m and 10000m. Her 5000m time was 18:54.98 and her 10000 time was 39:30.66.

Junior Madison Gladding placed sixth in the 400m hurdles in a time of 1:06.63.

Sophomore Patricia Reeves placed fifth in the women’s high jump, clearing the bar at 1.56m, and sophomore Kailey Wright placed fifth in the women’s hammer throw with a mark of 43.43m.

Overall, freshmen highly contributed to Linfield’s success, especially on the jumps side.

Freshman Olivia McDaniel placed sixth in the women’s pole vault in a height of 3.16m, and freshman Mehana Sabado-Halpern placed second in the women’s triple jump with a mark of 11.20m.

The women’s 4X100m relay consisted of Gladding, Gomez, Jade Everage and Edge. The team finished third in a time of 48.97.

The women’s 4X400m relay consisted of Gladding, Taylor Petersen, Sabado-Halpern and Gomez. The Wildcats placed fourth in a time of 4:05.49.

Based on the outstanding performances, several Wildcats now have a shot of making it to the DIII national championships in May.