Wildcats shine at Icebreaker, Street sets new record

Freshman Kelsey Nordbak prepares to release a practice toss during her hammer throw warm-up at the Linfield Erik Anderson Memorial Icebreaker on March 6. - Megan Myer/Photo editor

The Wildcats hit the track March 6 for the second meet of the outdoor season: the Linfield Erik Anderson Memorial Icebreaker.
Two meet records, a position on the school record board and multiple personal bests later, the team walked away with a successful weekend under their belt.
The meet kicked off March 5, with the hammer throw in the morning and the men’s and women’s 10,000-meter races in the evening.
The men’s 10K had a field of 23 runners, including five from Linfield, along with assistant coach Greg Mitchell. Mitchell won the race in a time of 30 minutes, 50 seconds.
Senior Chris McIsaac finished in second place with a time of 30:58. McIsaac’s time earned him a fourth-place spot on Linfield’s all-time record board for the 10K.
“My ultimate goal [coming into the race] was running under 31:00,” he said.
Halfway through the race, McIsaac said he became worried that he had gone out too fast and was going to fall apart, as he had in some of his previous races.
With 3,000 meters to go, roughly two miles, he said he realized that his goal was within reach if he could just run two more five-minute miles, which he did.
“It would be pretty great to make it to nationals this year,” McIsaac said. “I also really want the team to finish strongly and win conference.”
McIsaac’s time qualified him for NCAA provisionals.
In the first 10K of their running careers, sophomores Scott Gage placed eighth, and Eric Weinbender finished 15th at 33:27 and 34:01, respectively.
Sophomore Alex Van Slyke ran a 33:42 to place 11th, and sophomore Arian Anderson placed 17th with a time of 34:14.
The four made a strong showing and demonstrated the depth in this year’s distance team.
Outside of the running events, sophomore Catherine Street left the pole vault pit with a smile on her face after winning the event and breaking the meet record.
Although there were only four women competing in the pole vault, including freshman Ryann Nolan, who placed second, the unchallenging field didn’t keep Street from vaulting herself into the record books.
Street’s jump of 11 feet, 11 3/4 inches broke the previous meet record, which was set in 1996 by Karina Elstrom.
“I actually didn’t know that I had broken the meet record until the next day when someone congratulated me,” he said.
Keeping busy, Street left for the Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 10. Vaulting only an inch short of her personal best, the school record, she is tied for third in the nation at the D-III level.
“I feel like this year is more positive,” she said. “We have a great group of girls vaulting this year — the five best in the conference.”
Street says she has her eye on the title of national champion and would like to reach 11’3” by the end of the season.
Linfield will jump on the bus to travel to Forest Grove, Ore., on March 13 to compete at Pacific University.