SALEM, Ore. – AbbieJo Carlson won one event and finished third in another to lead the Whitworth University women into second place after the opening day of the 2023 Northwest Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Friday at Willamette University.
Carlson won the hammer throw and was part of a 1-2-3 finish for the Pirate women in the discus throw as Whitworth's women won two events. Lauryn Rawls was the winner of the discus.
Carlson won the hammer with a toss of 160'-2", which she did on both of her first throws.
Rawls led the discus from her first throw. She continued to improve until her final toss of 149'-5", a personal record. Amblessed Okemgbo also had her PR while finishing second with a mark of 135'-7". Carlson was third in 130'-2", giving the Pirates 24 points in that one event. Carlson and Rawls are repeat champions in their respective events.
Bree Rawls finished third in the high jump with her personal record of 5'-3.25". Monica Kaylor was sixth after clearing 5'-1.25. Devyn Cope finished seventh in the long jump with a distance of 16'-5.25".
The Whitworth women did not score in the pole vault, 10,000-meter run or the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
The Pirates are well-positioned in Saturday's track finals after Friday's preliminary heats. Amelia Hewson posted the top mark in the 100-meter hurdles, with Rawls seventh. Hewson, Jordyn Lungo and Alison Ball are the 2nd-4th seeds in the 100-meter dash. Ball and Hewson are also in the 200-meter final on Saturday.
Margaret Byle made the finals of the 400-meter dash, while Madelyn Buckley earned a spot in the 800-meter finals.
Carmen Gonzales-Aller Winslow made the finals of the women's 400 hurdles.
There will also be other finals in both relays, the 1,500-meters and the 5,000-meter run.
The women's team scores through Friday are: George Fox 123, Whitworth 54, Pacific Lutheran 48, Willamette 30, Lewis & Clark and Pacific (Ore.) 21, Linfield 13, Whitman 3, Puget Sound 0.
The Pirate men also had some strong performances on Friday and they are in third place.
Whitworth had runner-up finishes in two throwing events. Ignacio Garcia was second in the hammer throw with a personal record of 173'-1", while Cody Wheeler took seventh with a mark of 145'-5". Luke Davis finished second in the discus throw with his PR of 159'-0". Reed Hurst was fourth in 145'-4" and Eddie Vu (139'-2") took sixth.
Riley Flanagan finished seventh in the long jump with a distance of 21'-9". Whitworth did not score in the pole vault.
Jack Ireton improved his personal record in the 3,000 steeplechase by nearly 30 seconds to finish third in 9:34.19. James Dugenet was seventh in 9:43.44. Alex Peters took seventh in the 10,000-meters with a time of 32:20.24, which is his PR.
Solo Hines is the top qualifier in both the 100 and 200 dashes. Cameron Lantagne hit his PR (51.10) to make the finals of the 400 dash. Adam Callahan and Kainoa Figueira qualified in the 800-meter run, with Callahan winning his heat.
Zaanan Bane won his heat of the 110-meter hurdles to make the final, while JJ Martin also got in. Daniel Watts won a heat to qualify in the 400 hurdles.
The men's team scores through Friday are: George Fox 68, Pacific Lutheran 59.5, Whitworth 42, Linfield 20, Lewis & Clark 17.5, Willamette 15, Pacific (Ore.) 12, Puget Sound and Whitman 0.
