TACOMA, Wash. – Whitworth University won five more individual events and both the men and women finished in third place in the final standings on Saturday at the 2022 Northwest Conference Track & Field Championships, hosted by the University of Puget Sound.
Solo Hines and Reed Hurst got the first two first place finishes of the meet for the men, while Amelia Hewson, Lauryn Rawls and Nikohl Jordan put up three more victories for the women. The Pirate women finished the meet with five first place finishes.
Hines became Whitworth's first 100-meter dash champion in a decade when he sprinted to a 10.94 to break the wire first. He won by a tenth of a second over Dylan Jackson of Linfield. Matthew Landon was the Pirates' last 100-meter champion in 2012. Joe Tingstad took seventh in 11.31.
Reed Hurst threw the discus 156'-1" to earn the top post on the podium. He unleashed his lifetime PR on his second attempt, to defeat PLU's Masum Real by over three feet.
Also on the track, Kainoa Figueira was runner-up in the men's 400-meter dash with a time of 50.66, second only to Chandler Norris of Linfield (49.91). Cameron Lantagne was sixth in 51.17.
Stephen Crupper was sixth in the 200-meter dash in 22.50. Linfield's Jackson bounced back from the loss in the 200 to win in 22.08.
Whitworth did not score in the 800-meter run, but Mason Velasquez was able to earn a point in the 1,500-meters with a time of 4:03.74. Benn Kerr of Puget Sound won the 1,500 in 3:52.19.
The Pirates did not have a scorer in the 5,000-meter run.
The Bucs got points in both hurdles events. Tingstad (16.43) was fourth in the 110-meter hurdles, while Jalen Martin was sixth (17.93) and Nathan Dykstra was eighth (19.96). Linfield's Keaton Wood won in 14.66.
Xavier Betancourt finished third in the 400-meter hurdles in 57.58. PLU's Grady Lemma had a three-second improvement from his qualifying time to win in 53.83.
The Whitworth men finished fourth in the 400-meter relay with a time of 43.23. Linfield won in 42.14. The Pirates were third in the 1,600-meter relay in 3:24.71. Linfield won that race as well in 3:23.68.
In addition to Hurst's victory in the discus, the Pirates got points in the other field events. Benjamin Brinkley took fifth in the javelin throw with a mark of 182'-1". PLU's Darius Chaffin was champion with a distance of 194-4.
Tingstad showed up on the scoreboard again with a third place finish in the pole vault (12'-10.25), surviving an event in which more than half of the field failed to clear a single height. George Fox's Levi Gibson won with a height of 15'-3.75".
Samson Irish-Lodge finished fourth (43'-8.75") in the triple jump while Martin was fifth (42'-9.75"). Ethan Kassebaum (GFU) was the winner (45'-6.5").
The final men's team scores were: George Fox 233, Pacific Lutheran 148, Whitworth 133, Linfield 106, Pacific (Ore.) 59, Puget Sound 39, Willamette 32, Lewis & Clark 17.
Martin scored in five men's events for Whitworth, while Tingstad scored in four. Martin was the runner-up at last week's decathlon and added points this weekend in the high jump, long jump, triple jump and 110 hurdles. Tingstad also scored in the decathlon and tallied three times today in the 110 hurdles, 100 dash and pole vault.
Hewson had a very busy day, including another lifetime PR in the women' s100-meter hurdles. She won the hurdles with a time of 14.19, beating her mark from Friday by three hundredths of a second. Bree Rawls was eighth in 16.17.
Hewson also finished fourth in the 100 dash (12.51), while Alison Ball was fifth (12.57) and Jordyn Lungo was seventh (12.99). PLU's Bailey Forsyth won in 11.97.
That Pirate trio made up most of the 400 relay, which took second place in 48.29. George Fox won with a time of 47.79.
Hewson completed her day by finishing seventh in the 200 dash in 26.07. Ball was sixth in 25.76. Forsyth won again for PLU with a time of 24.85.
Jordan came from the pack to win the 800-meter run in 2:17.52, a lifetime PR. Madelyn Buckley was fourth for the Pirates in 2:22.25.
Buckley also had a third place finish in the 1,500-meter run earlier in the meet, going 4:47.46. George Fox's Brenna Sclair won in 4:41.48.
Carmen Winslow was sixth in the 400 hurdles (1:09.05), which was won by GFU's Bethany Schmidt. Mackenzie Ward took seventh in the 400 dash (1:02.66), which was won by Puget Sound's Jackilyn Lewis (58.19).
The Whitworth women closed the meet by finishing fourth in the 1,600-meter relay with a time of 4:03.89. George Fox won the race in 3:59.74.
Lauryn Rawls gave the Pirates their third throwing victory of the meet when she won the discus with a lifetime PR 136'-3" on her last attempt. She edged Naomi Johnson of PLU by a foot. AbbieJo Carlson, who won the hammer on Friday, took eighth in the discus (114'-1").
Eva Millan was seventh in the javelin with a throw of 123'-5". PLU's Ava Nelson won with a distance of 150'-2".
Bree Rawls posted more points for the Pirates with a third place finish in the triple jump (35'-3"), while Devyn Cope was fifth (34'-5.75"). Lewis & Clark's Cameryn Nagaji won with a 36'-4.75" jump.
Madison Peffers cleared 5'-0.25" to take fourth in the high jump, while Breanne Rawls was fifth (4'-10.25"). Linfield's Jerrica Pachl won with a height of 5'-7".
Bree Rawls scored in five events for the Pirates. In addition to three today, she scored in the long jump yesterday and was fifth at the heptathlon last week.
The final women's team scores were: George Fox 283.5, PLU 149, Whitworth 136, Pacific (Ore.) 79, Lewis & Clark and Linfield 57, Puget Sound 31.5, Willamette 19, Whitman 6.
The Pirates are off of competition until May 6-7 when they will spread out over three different meets: Oregon Twilight (May 6), Linfield Open (May 7) and Portland Twilight (May 7).
