The RiverHawks Track & Field teams competed at the Linfield Erik Anderson Icebreaker on Friday and Saturday, March 3-4. The weather was the strongest opponent, as the Hawks had to battle through cold weather, rain, and strong winds. The Friday night 10k runners took on 16mph winds, rain, and a low temperature while they ran 25 laps around the track. On Saturday it was also a cold, overcast day, with off and on rain, and with an average wind speed of 19mph and wind gusts up to 30mph. Athletes in javelin and all track athletes on the home stretch also had to battle the headwind throughout the day. Despite the unfavorable conditions, several of the RiverHawks made their way into the top 8 in their respec tive events.
On the men's side, the crew was able to pull off a 9th place finish of the 21 scoring teams, while narrowly missing a few school records. Sophomore, Colby Neron, secured his first collegiate win in the men's javelin with a throw of 59.29m/194-6ft. Following him in javelin were freshmen, Ismayil Abdoulaye (4th, 52.57m/172-6ft) and Isaac Heard (8th, 45.55m/149-5ft), which solidified all 3 men's javelin throwers placing on the day. The pole vault crew had a challenging time (as 10 competitors all no-heighted, mostly due to the sporadic weather), but freshman, Daniel Gee, was able to clear a personal best of 3.87m/12-8.25ft and place 4th overall. In the men's long jump, freshman, James Kelly, secured himself a 4th place finish with a mark of 6.41m/21-0.5ft. Also within the jumps crew, freshman, Aiden Norris, took on the triple jump and finished 6th with a mark of 12.64m/41-5.75ft.
On the women's side, the crew pulled off a finish of 11th of 18 scoring teams and managed to break 3 school records. The javelin crew also had all 3 throwers finish within the top 8 to earn team points. Sophomore, Whitney Lindsey, took 2nd with a throw of 37.42m/122-9ft and broke the school record, while freshmen, Madelyn Sharp (personal best of 32.62m/107ft) and Kylie Rubrecht (31.03/101-10ft), took 5th and 8th, respectively. Freshman, Kylie Anderson, had quite the college debut as she took 3rd in the shot put (11.21m/36-9.5ft), and she took 6th in the hammer throw (39.96m/131-1ft) while breaking Coach Dishman's school record. Freshman, Gabrielle Hrdlicka ran the 100m hurdles directly into a headwind (-4.9) with a time of 17.85, and still pulled off 4th place and the school record.
The Hawks will compete next Saturday, March 11th at the LCC open hosted by Lane Community College in Eugene, OR.
