The RiverHawks Track and Field teams competed in the second meet of the season at the LCC Open hosted by Lane CC in Eugene, OR on Saturday, March 9th. While the weather was a bit better than the previous week, there was still strong wind gusts and intermittent rain throughout the day. The men finished 5th of 17 teams with 51 points and the women finished 15th of 18 teams with 17 points.
Kylie Rubrecht led the Hawks with a victory in the javelin, throwing a new personal best of 35.56m/116-8ft, enough to qualify her for NWAC Championships. Kylie Anderson was the next to score for the Hawks in the hammer throw, improving her mark from last week with a throw of 38.03m/124-9ft for a 6th place and over the NWAC qualifying standard. Mia McCormack dropped a second off her 800m time with 2:46.12, finishing the race in 7th. Lexi McWilliam ran a strong 5k and dropped more than 20 seocnds off her time in 21:04.18 and an 8th place finish. Gabrielle Hrdlicka rounded out points for the Hawks with an 8th place finish in high jump, going 1.35m/4-5ft. Two others had notable performances as Emma-Kate Crouse took on the 1500m and ran a new personal best of 5:47.30, and Keelin Johnson ran the 5k in 22:54.62 (55 seconds faster than her previous best).
The men's crew had quite the exciting day as cheering could be heard back and forth from the javelin to pole vault as the meet concluded with the two events. Daniel Gee jumped a new personal best and broke the school record with a clearance of 4.63m/15-2.25ft, finishing 2nd in the event. At the javelin, Leikel Cabrera-Gay also took 2nd, bettering his mark from the previous meet with 66.36m/217-8ft. Fellow javelin thrower Ismayil Abdoulaye had three throws over 60m during the series, with his best being 62.26m/204-3 (beating his previous best by 11ft) and finishing 3rd. Xavier Hills improved his triple jump mark from last meet with a jump of 14.27m/46-10ft in his final attempt. Xavier's mark also broke the school record that was set in 1988 (prior to the 22 year hiatus from 1996-2018), and it's clear he is not done yet. James Kelly had two strong efforts on the day starting with 15.90 and 3rd place in the 110m high hurdles, then jumping 4.43m/14-6.25ft in the pole vault (an inch higher than last week). Okenoko Pascall and Isaac Heard both had 5th place finishes, with Pascall throwing a personal best of 42.79m/140-4ft in the discus, and Isaac throwing 53.56m/175-8ft in the javelin. Ethan Sumpter was the fourth javelin thrower to place for the team as he finished in 7th with a new personal best of 51.50m/168-11ft. Tarron Metz rounded out the placers in the pole vault with an 8th place finish and clearance of 4.13m/13-6.5ft. There were a few notable finishes for the men as Elijah Mojica ran a new personal best in the 800m in 2:03.77, Irafasha Rodrigue ran a new personal best in the 1500m with 4:28.62, Daniel Gee matched his long jump best at 5.80m/19-0.5ft, and the crew opened up a 4x400m relay team composed of Oluwatomiwa Olubisi, Jacob Loudenslager, Elijah Mojica, and Irafasha Rodrigue in 3:39.00.
The RiverHawk Track and Field teams will look on to compete next Saturday, March 16th at the OSU PNW Invite hosted by Oregon State in Corvallis, OR.
There are now 10 athletes already qualified for the NWAC Championships (May 20th and 21st):
Ismayil Abdoulaye: Javelin
Kylie Anderson: Hammer
Leikel Cabrera-Gay: Javelin
Daniel Gee: Pole Vault
Isaac Heard: Javelin
Xavier Hills: Triple Jump and High Jump
James Kelly: Pole Vault
Okenoko Pascall: Discus
Kylie Rubrecht: Javelin
Ethan Sumpter: Javelin
Roll Hawks!!
