‘Cats top charts at Lewis & Clark invitational

Alex Jensen, Sports Editor

The Linfield women’s track and field team took first place with 158 points and the men’s team finished fourth out of five teams on Saturday at the Lewis and Clark Invitational.

The Wildcats topped the charts in the women’s 800m, all three were seniors. Kaelia Neal led the pack crossing first at two minutes, 15.65 seconds. Emma Knudson and Jaime Rodden were right behind her seconds later. Junior Courtney Beard crossed the line fifth and freshman Nicole Bissey was in sixth.

Neal stands third all-time in the Linfield record book for her efforts and recorded a lifetime best. Knudson, Rodden and Bissy also logged new personal bests.

“The race felt great, I felt the strongest I have all season and felt confident and competitive throughout the race. I’m really looking forward to conference this next weekend and I feel physically and mentally prepared after running a collegiate PR [personal best] this past weekend,” Rodden said.

Freshman Kristin Burke earned top honors in the women’s 110m hurdles in 16.82 seconds. Junior Kycie Richwine followed her in second at 16.87 seconds. Freshman Juliet Arnwald set a personal best with 17.51 seconds for fourth place. She again ran a personal best of 1:13.11 in the 400m hurdles to take fifth place.

“It felt pretty good [the races]. It wasn’t my fastest time or the best race I’ve ran this, but there were definitely parts of the race that felt good, especially with conference coming up this weekend,” Burke said.

Senior Taylor Vicknair pulled out a first place in the men’s 110m hurdles in 15.57 seconds. Junior Max Patterson followed in third with 16.11.

Freshman Max Lommen jumped 5 feet 11 ¼ inches in the men’s high jump earning him first place.

Senior Jeff Lieder took second in the men’s shot-put throwing 45 feet 2 ¼ inches. He also picked up a fourth-place finish in the discus with 136 feet 4 inches.

The Wildcats took second through fourth in the women’s pole vault. Junior Olivia McDaniel grabbed second place with a vault of 12 feet with junior Joanna Galli going third in 11 feet ¼ inches and freshman Meg Angier setting a lifetime best of 11 feet ¼.

Senior Kailey Wright threw into first place with 120 feet 4 inches in the women’s discus. Followed by sophomore MaKenzie Mize in second with 119 feet 1 inch. Sophomore Molly Danielson claimed fourth place with 113 feet 1 inch.

Wright followed her discus performance with a second place in the hammer throwing 137 feet 11 inches.

Sophomore Dana Brooks yielded a first place in the women’s javelin with 127 feet 1 inch. Fellow sophomore Morgan Chamberlain followed in third with 97 feet 9 inches.

Junior Tiffany Wall placed third in the women’s high jump marking 4 feet 10 ½ inches.

Freshman Travis Crockett picked up two fifth place finished one in the men’s 100m in 11.44 seconds and another in the 200m in 23.24.

Senior Ana Ramierez placed sixth in the women’s 1500m in 5:19.93 minutes.

Junior Brian Douglas picked up two fourth places on in the in the men’s 400m in 52.95 seconds and the other in the long jump going 10 feet ¾ inches. Senior Jeff Lee grabbed fifth in the 1500m in 4:14.62 minutes.

Next, Linfield will host the NWC Championships on Friday and Saturday at Maxwell Field. Friday’s start time is 12:30 p.m. and Saturday’s events will get underway at 9 a.m.