With the Wildcats’ track and field season in full motion, the team anticipates some thrilling and progressing growth in the next few months to come. George Fox University’s track and field team hosted their very first sporting event, Rich Allen Classic, welcoming Linfield College and Pacific University to their new stadium.
Linfield’s junior Ellie Schmidt finished first in the women’s 100- and 200-meter as well as helped her team finish first in the 4×100-meter relay. The other members on the women’s team are freshman Dallas Edge, sophomore Rachael Gernhart and junior Halsie Peek. The women finished the relay at 50.25.
Alongside Schmidt in the sprints with times at 12.83 and 26.38, Peek placed second in the 100-meter dash at 12.85 and freshman Haley Patishall coming in third in the 200-meter race at 27.57.
In the 4×400 meter relay Patishall, Peek, Gernhart and Schmidt took second at 4:16.65, shedding off over four seconds from February’s Icebreaker time.
Edge placed in the 100-meter hurdles as well, coming in third at 15.55, while freshman Madison Gladding also took third in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:12.95. Coming in third for the men’s 110-meter hurdles Clay Monahan timed in at 18.05 and in fourth in the 400-meter hurdles.
Freshmen Treve’ Ensley, Jake Mihelich, Bryce Evans and Kennedy Johnson represented Linfield in the men’s 4×100-meter relay coming in third with a time of 44.11. In the 4×400-meter relay, sophomores Steven Holland, Tom Steelhammer, and freshmen Zack Knight and Mihelich came in second with a time of 3:35.63.
Mihelich and Ensley both proved notable against their opponents in the 200-meter dash finishing second and third at 22.93 and 23.45. Mihelich also struck first in the 400-meter dash clocking in at 49.70.
Linfield’s very own, Hannah Greider, Katie Skinner and Siena Noe, senior runners in the 5000-meter showcased the women’s teamwork and impressiveness so early on in the season. Greider said her and the other ladies all worked together and strategically took turns leading. Greider finished first with a time of 18:23.82, Skinner in second at 18:28.42, and Noe coming in third at 18:30.95.
“It’s awesome to have such strong teammates that all work together…We have a lot of depth this year,” Greider said in an email. “Despite it being so early on in the season, people are performing really well. The beginning of track season is tough, and a lot of it is just about getting in shape and pushing through some rough workouts, so to see everyone getting great times, distances and heights so early on is excellent.”
In some of the other distance women’s events junior Audrey Lichten pocketed a few wins as well. Lichten finished second in the 800-meter at 2:24.11and grabbed first place in the 1500-meter run with a time of 4:54.15. On the men’s side, sophomore Manuel Finley finished the 800-meter in third at 2:06.09.
For the field events, the women continued to see victory. Senior Anna LaBeaume captured first in all her events including shot put, discus and the hammer throw. LaBeaume distance for shot put was 11.80 meters, for discus she threw 36.71 meters and 45.15 for the hammer throw. Courtney Alley came in second for the shot put with a distance of 10.37 meters.
On the men’s side, Scott Anderson placed first in shot put for a distance of 12.20 meters, with Mike Maierhofer coming in second with a distance of 12.19 meters. For men’s discus throw, Lucas Clark came in second and Jake Evans coming in third throwing 38.26 and 37.01 meters. In the hammer throw Nick Fairhart took second throwing 46.71 meters.
On the runway, Senior Kate Shear threw a distance of 38.25 meters earning her first place in javelin. For men’s javelin, Morgunn Ewing threw 53.42 meters earning him second place.
In the sand pits, Kennedy Johnson competed in the long jump, receiving second for jumping 6.61 meters and first place in the triple jump with a distance of 13.22 meters. Gernhart also competed in the triple, taking second on the women’s side after jumping a distance of 10.74 meters. Freshman Eric Igbinoba took second in the triple after jumping 12.75 meters. Dezi Roberts tied for third in the women’s high jump and Holland took second for the men’s high jump.
The grey and cloudy day didn’t stop the Linfield ladies from shining through and capturing first place in the women’s division; while in the men’s division, Linfield took second but only leaving room for growth and personal records.
Special Lovincey/Columnist
Freshman Zach Knight competes in the four by four hundred with the rest of his team in which they got second.
Photo courtesy of Amanda Gibbon
Freshman Jasmine Fojas sticks her landing for the Triple Jump which she got third in at the GFU Rich Allen Classic. Fojas was one of the four athletes from Linfield to make the top five.
Photo courtesy of Amanda Gibbon
