NEWBERG, Ore. – Whitworth University freshman Jalen Martin finished in second place at the 2022 Northwest Conference decathlon on Monday and Tuesday at George Fox University, leading a large Pirate contingent of decathletes and heptathletes.
The Whitworth men finished second, fourth, and sixth through eighth in the decathlon, scoring 20 points in the event that will count toward the upcoming NWC Track & Field Championships. Bree Rawls and Madison Peffers took fifth and seventh, respectively, in the helpathlon.
All five Pirate men scored in the decathlon. Behind Martin (5690 points), Joe Tingstad (5348) finished fourth, Nathan Dykstra (4409) was sixth, Cameron Ditter (4390) was seventh and Adam Cassidy (3956) was eighth. Tyler Phillips of George Fox won the decathlon with a score of 6243.
Martin's decathlon actually got off to a slow start after he finished 10th among 10 competitors in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.93. But he bounced back by having the third-best long jump (20'-7.5") and the second best high jump (6'-0"). By the time he went a 55.40 in the 400-meter dash at the end of the first day, he had moved into second place. Martin held second place through Tuesday's half of the competition. His high point came in the pole vault, where he had the best mark of 11'-2".
Tingstad's best finish came in the pole vault, where he cleared 11'-0". He had three third place finishes in events. Dykstra had the second-longest javelin throw (141'-4.5").
Rawls was in third place for much of the heptathlon, but slipped back to fifth place after the javelin throw, which was the second-to-last event. Rawls finished third in both the 100-meter hurdles (16.83) and the 800-meter run (2:42.90). She totaled 3592 points, only 26 points behind Lewis & Clark's Jessica Cerne (3618). Brecken VandenHoek of George Fox was the winner with a score of 4076.
Peffers finished seventh with a total of 2923. Peffers best finish came in the high jump (third place) with a mark of 4'-11".
