by Meghan Dellinger
The Pirates’ track and field teams went to Spokane Community College on Saturday, April 7, to compete in a meet against teams from all levels throughout the Inland Northwest.
The men’s team finished the meet tied overall for second place with the University of Idaho, while the women’s team placed 14th overall in the meet.
Sophomore Michael Vandenberg, who competed in 400m, 200m and 4×4 relay, said the meet went well overall.
“We had a lot of people qualify for conference, so as a team we did pretty well,” Vandenberg said.
Head coach Toby Schwarz said it was a great day all-around, and a number of athletes improved their conference marks.
“The weather really cooperated; the sun was out all day,” Schwarz said. “The competition was really great [and] people took advantage of the opportunity.
There were 14 schools there total, mak[ing] it fun but also competitive.”
Junior Carter Comito won the discus with a throw of 187-6, and junior Frank Lima won the high jump after clearing 6-6. The two helped boost their team toward the top of the scoreboard.
Sophomore Keegan Shea finished third in the hammer throw with a toss of 171-11. Senior John McCormack also finished in third for his event, the javelin, with a throw of 198-5.
Freshman Wesley Sitser finished in second for the 100m dash with a time of 11.21. The men’s 4×100 relay finished second as well, with a final time of 42.54.
Freshman Cameron Campbell, who competed in the 400m and 200m races, said although he didn’t run in his events as well as he would have liked, the team still accomplished its goal.
“[The team’s goal was to] go out and run hard, do the best we can and get more people qualified,” Campbell said.
The women also competed well in the meet. Sophomore Jheri Gates and freshman Christina Dobbins both cleared 5-3.75 in the high jump. Gates finished in second place and Dobbins in fourth, based on the number of the misses.
Freshman Christina Anderson ran a season best time in the 5,000m race, finishing in 18:48.25.
Schwarz also named sophomore Stephanie Barrong, freshmen Rachel Palmquist and Joe Green as having competed well in the meet.
Vandenberg said the atmosphere of the meet was busy.
“There were over 500 athletes,” Vandenberg said. “There were things going on all over the place, but it seemed like everyone was doing well. There were a lot of people, [and] a lot of things to watch.”
Campbell agreed.
“It was kind of chaotic,” he said. “There was a lot more people there and it took longer.”
Schwarz said although last week was a little rough weather-wise, the weather tends to get better toward the end of the season.
“We’re getting more people healthy [as] we’re coming to the end of the season and conference [championships],” Schwarz said. “People tend to get more excited.”
Two athletes from the men’s team and one from the women’s team will compete on Monday, April 9, and Tuesday, April 10, at the NWC Decathlon and Heptathlon championships. The championships are hosted at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.
The Pirates will also host a meet at Whitworth on Thursday, April 12 at the Boppell Track.
Schwarz said this home meet will be the last opportunity for people to qualify for conference championships.
Contact Meghan Dellinger at mdellinger15@my.whitworth.edu.