Four RiverHawks competed at the Pacific Multi hosted by Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR on Thursday and Friday. Two men in the decathlon and two women in the heptathlon. The rest of the team followed up on Saturday to compete at the Pacific Open. The Hawks once again faced rough weather conditions with strong wind gusts, on and off rain showers, and cold weather.
In the men's decathlon, James Kelly and Daniel Gee competed and held their own on the first day. James Kelly ran his fastest time of the year in the 100m with 11.52, then proceded to win the long jump with 6.58m/21'7.25" (which also broke the school record). Daniel Gee had never competed or practiced most of the events prior to the competition, but still held his own to score a sizeable amount of points in each. Later on in the day, both guys broke the previous school record in the high jump set in 2019. James came over on top with a clearance of 1.85m/6'0.75 and Daniel cleared 1.82m/5'11.5", good enough to place them 3rd and 4th in the event. The guys finished their day with a strong 400m, and James Kelly led all 13 competitors with 3,263 points. On day two, the weather conditions were a bit worse. In the 110m hurdles, James ran 17.11 and Daniel went 20.50. The unfavorable conditions were not conducive for pole vault, so both guys struggled a bit, but Daniel took 3rd in the event with a clearance of 3.95m/12'11.5". To end the day, Daniel finished second in the 1500m with a time of 4:53.06 (the fastest time by any UCC decathlete). James Kelly finished with 4,924 points and Daniel Gee finished with 4,904 points, both guys look forward to improving their marks significantly after a little more practice and hopefully better weather come May 1st-2nd at the NWAC Multi Championships at Lane CC.
In the women's heptathlon, both Eve Elmore and Avery Shinkle competed, both are multi-sport athlete, who had also never competed in most of the events in the heptathlon prior to the meet. Both competed quite well throughout the events, with Eve Elmore clearing 1.37m/4'6" in the high jump and Avery Shinkle ran 18.40 in the 100m hurdles. Eve, who is predominately a throw for the UCC squad, wanted to try out some of the events, so overall she didn't finish all events, but working on some of the jumps has helped improved her power and speed in her usual throwing events. Avery finished with 2,553 points, which was just over 100 points short of the school record, and she will look forward to ocntinue her growth in the heptathlon events to also compete at the NWAC Multi Championships on May 1st-2nd at Lane CC.
On Saturday, the rest of the RiverHawks competed at the Pacific Open in similar weather conditions. On the women's side, Rachel Noyce easily won the high jump with a jump of 3.0m/5'2.25" which is just 1" short of her PR and she continues to lead the NWAC. Rachel then went on to take 4th in the long jump, competing in the event for the first time this year, with a jump of 4.66m/15'3.5". Kylie Anderson also had a 4th place finish, as she threw 11.55m/37'10.75" in the shot put. In the javelin, all 3 Hawks went into the finals, as Whitney Lindsey threw 40.30m/132'3" (4th), Kylie Rubrecht threw 32.47m/106'6" (8th), and Madelyn Sharp threw 32.33m/106'1" (9th, just outside of scoring points). Kristen Thomas had a big day as she ran the 3k steeplechase for the first time in her career, and finished 5th overall with a time of 13:23.83, then proceeded to run the 800m as a workout and ran a season's best 2:38.73. In the pole vault, Taylor Heie jumped 2ft higher than her personal best with a jump of 3.00m/9'10" and finished 6th out of 14 jumpers. Mariah Summers also ran the 3k steeplechase and took 7th overall with a time of 13:40.32. In the 800m Bailey Wallack and Emma-Kate Crouse also had notable performances as they both ran lifetime bests with times of 2:34.02 and 2:49.05, respectively.
On the men's side, several Hawks had notable performances as well. In the men's javelin, all 3 Hawks finished in scoring position as Colby Neron lead the crew with a 3rd place finish and a throw of 58.60m/192'3". Following Colby was Ismayil Abdoulaye with a PR of 55.29m/181'5" in 4th place and Isaac Heard with a throw of 52.41m/171'11" in 7th place. Isaac Heard also threw a new PR in the discus throw with 36.63m/120'2". Aiden Norris had a great day as he took 4th place in the triple jump with a mark of 13.20m/43-3.75" and 5th place in the 110m hurdles with a time of 16.08. Both of Aiden's marks broke school records (the hurdle record was already his from the previous meet). Attreyu Pinard ran the 3k steeplechase and ran a pesonal best time of 11:12.92, which placed him 6th overall.
After the meet, Taylor Heie was awarded NWAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week for her performance and Aiden Norris was awarded NWAc Men's Field Athlete of the Week for his performances.
The RiverHawks will compete again on Friday, April 7th at the John Knight Twilight hosted by Western Oregon University in Monmouth, OR.
Go Hawks!
