by Kelsey Segren, Sports Information Assistant
FOREST GROVE, Ore. – The Whitworth University track and field men's team took second and the women's team finished third at the 2021 Northwest Conference Championships, hosted by Pacific University.
The Whitworth men won five individual events and a relay, while the Pirate women took home three individual titles. The George Fox men's and women's team defended their NWC titles.
Nick McGill won the javelin, tied for second in the high jump and finished third in both the 110-meter hurdles and the triple jump. He posted career bests in the 110mh (15.38) and the triple jump (44' 10.75"), and season bests in the high jump (6' 4.25") and javelin (195' 10"). McGill also won the decathlon at the NWC Combined Events Championships last week.
Samson Irish-Lodge took second in the triple jump, passing McGill on his final attempt (45' 3"). His previous best was 43' 7.75".
Kolby Blackler won the 110-meter hurdles, placed second in the 200-meter dash and fifth in the triple jump. He was also part of the winning 4x100-meter relay and second place 4x400 team. The first-year Pirate ran a 14.86 in the 110mh, .01 seconds short of his fastest time, before his 22.34 finish in the 200m. He finished the day with a career-best mark of 43' 8.50" in the triple jump.
Travis Herrera won the 400-meter hurdles in a career-best time of 54.54 and scored in five individual events in total over the meet, including last week's third place finish in the decathlon. He took seventh in the 110mh and eighth in the high jump on Friday. Xavier Betancourt placed fourth in the 400mh.
Dante Stokes placed sixth in the 100-meter dash with a personal best time of 11.24. Kainoa Figueira added a fifth-place finish in the 400-meter dash.
William Glick placed third in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:55.43. Joel Mott finished the 5,000-meter run in 15:38.91 for fourth place.
Irish-Lodge, Blackler, Logan Wright and Riley Flanagan won the 4x100-meter relay with a time of 42.50. Figueira, Blackler, McGill and Herrera placed second in the 4x400-meter relay (3:26.71).
Reed Hurst, the NWC champion in the shot put, placed third in the discus throw (140' 1"). Stephen Haugland, who was the runner up in the hammer throw on Thursday, finished sixth in the discus on Friday. Benjamin Brinkley took fifth in the javelin.
The final men's scores are: 1) George Fox 251.5, 2) Whitworth 219.5, 3) Pacific Lutheran 101.5, 4) Linfield 87.5, 5) Lewis & Clark 54, 6) Pacific (Ore.) 47, 7) Puget Sound 31, 8) Willamette 19, 9) Whitman 1
Amelia Hewson earned the NWC title in the 100-meter hurdles after crossing the finish line in 15.05. She ran a personal best of 14.90 in the preliminaries on Thursday. Hewson added a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter dash. Jordyn Lungo finished fifth in the 100m and Alison Ball placed fourth in the 200m.
Lexi Caniglia placed third in the 800-meter run, finishing in a time of 2:22.02. Madelyn Buckley, a first-year Pirate, placed fifth in the 1500-meter run, improving for the fourth time this season.
Keara Simpson led the women's field athletes, winning both events she competed in. Simpson won the shot put on Thursday and took first in the discus throw on Friday. She threw 141' 7" in the discus, an improvement on her previous best by over 10 feet.
Lauryn Rawls was the runner-up (135' 3" PR) in the discus throw and Jamie Copeland placed fourth (128' 10"). Eva Millan placed fourth in the javelin with a career-best throw of 130' 5".
The Pirate women also had a pair of strong performances in the triple jump. Devyn Cope finished third (34' 4") and Monica Kaylor placed fourth (33' 11.25" PR).
The final women's scores are: 1) George Fox 264, 2) Pacific Lutheran 146, 3) Whitworth 133, 4) Pacific (Ore.) 71, 5) Puget Sound 58, 6) Linfield 51, 7) Lewis & Clark 50, 8) Willamette 26, 9) Whitman 10
Coming Up: The Pirates who posted national qualifying marks will compete at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Greensboro, N.C. on May 27-29.
