by Alex Blade
Several Whitworth Track and Field athletes competed in the Pelluer Invitational on Friday, April 29 at Eastern Washington University.
The Pirates got victories in two women’s events from seniors Elizabeth Mattila and Tonya Turner.
Mattila beat a field of runners from EWU, University of Montana and Montana State University in the 400m hurdles. She ran a time of 1:02.02, improving on her already NCAA Division III qualifying time for this season.
Mattila also finished fourth in the 100m hurdles with a time of 15.65.
Turner’s victory came in the 1500m run, in which she ran a time of 4:45.88, which was more than 20 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.
Senior Dana Misterek turned in a solid performance in the 800m run, taking fourth place with a time of 2:14.41. Unfortunately, while the time was Misterek’s best of the season, it was one one-hundredth of a second away from qualifying for the NCAA DIII Championships. The provisional qualifying time for the 800m in DIII is 2:14.40.
The men were well represented by freshman Sam Wright, who took second in the discus (155’-8”) and third in the shot put (50’-6.75”). Sophomore Carter Comito took fourth in the shot put (50’-5.25”), and senior Alex Couette placed fourth in the hammer throw (177’-6”).