Three RiverHawks competed at the NWAC Multi-Events Championships on Monday and Tuesday, April 29th-30th at Lane CC in Eugene, OR. Despite the weather being in unfavorable conditions, yet again, Daniel Gee and James Kelly went 1-2 in the Decathlon, and Rachel Noyce took 5th in the Heptathlon. There were 14 men competing in the decathlon and 11 women competing in the heptathlon, with top 8 scoring points, per usual.
Daniel Gee won the decathlon with 6,084 points, breaking the school record, and just behind him was teammate James Kelly with 6,000 points. The two gained 18 points for the RiverHawk men's team going into the NWAC Championships in just a few short weeks. Rachel Noyce broke her own school record that she set earlier this year, with 3,260 points, to bring in 4 points for the RiverHawk women's team going into NWAC Championships.
James Kelly and Daniel Gee created quite the atmosphere for the decathlon, as both were known to be heavily competitive and were looking to secure the 1st and 2nd spots. James Kelly started off the events hot as he ran a PR of 11.29 and secured the win in the 100m for 797 points. Daniel Gee took 5th in the event with a PR of 11.61 for 730 points. James took his first jump in long jump, then passed the next two as he went 6.76m/22-2.25ft (less than 1" from his PR), easily winning the event and securing 757 points for himself to lengthen his lead. This jump actually moved James into 3rd in the NWAC with an auto-qualifying jump for championships. Daniel secured 559 points in the event with a jump of 5.87m/19-3.25ft. In shot put, James threw a huge PR on his second throw to secure the event win and 579 points with 11.54m/37-10.5ft. Daniel threw 9.96m/32-8.25ft for 487 points. Daniel really came alive in the high jump, as he cleared a collegiate best of 1.83m/6-0ft, taking 2nd in the event and securing 653 points. Just behind him was James with a clearance of 1.80m/5-10.75ft, worth 627 points. The two guys finished off day one with the 400m. Daniel took 2nd in the event, going 53.10 for 677 points, and James ran 55.59 for 575 points. Going into day two, James Kelly led all competitors with 3,335 points, while Daniel Gee was just behind him with 3,102 points. The 110m hurdles was ran straight into a headwind, but James claimed 2nd in the event with 714 points, and Daniel ran a PR of 17.04 for 5th and 620 points. Daniel had a huge final throw in discus of 34.78m/114-1ft, which helped close the points gap as he secured 559 points. James threw 27.50m/90-3ft for 416 points. While there is only 30 minutes between the conclusion of one event and the start of the next event, the two guys had to wait almost three hours before they could pole vault, as the starting height was 1.90m/6-2.25ft and both guys planned to come in at 4.30m/14-1.25ft. The two easily cleared their starting height and secured 702 points each to tie with only 183 points seperating them in 1st and 2nd. They both had strong performances in the javelin as they finished 3rd and 4th in the event with PR throws. James threw 42.66m/139-11 for 481 points, and Daniel threw 42.61m/139-9ft for 480 points. Going into the final event of the decathlon, the two guys were seperated by 184 points. Daniel ran a strong 1500m in 4:49.59 to gain 621 points. James finished the 1500m in 5:39.92 for 352 points. The two traded places in rankings to finish off the decathlon, but still secured the top two spots on the podium to bring home 18 points for the RiverHawk men's team going into NWAC Championships.
Rachel Noyce ran a PR in the 100m hurdles to start the competition off with 227 points. Then she easily won the high jump by clearing 1.51m/4-11.5ft for 632 points. She took 4th in the shot put, scoring 421 points with a solid mark of 8.33m/27-4ft. Finshing day one with the 200m, she scored 569 points with a time of 28.80. Day two kicked off with the long jump, as she went 4.42m/14-6ft for 408 points. An impressive javelin throw of 26.83m/88-0ft secured 2nd in the event and 417 points for Rachel. The heptathlon was capped off with the 800m, as Rachel finished 4th in the event and ran a team best (of the season) 2:38.90 for 586 points.
Daniel Gee earned his first All-American honors as he became the NWAC Decathlon Champion. Runner-up, James Kelly earned his second All-American honors of his career, both being in the decathlon. In the heptathlon, Rachel Noyce earned All-Conference honors. Check out their personal bio pages by clicking their highlighted name to see previous honors they've each earned while competing as RiverHawks.
The three will take the weekend off as the rest of the team travels to Eugene for the Oregon Twilight and McMinnville for the Linfield Open and last regular season competition of the year, before NWAC Southern Region Championships and NWAC Championships. Only a few will compete at the Oregon Twilight, as it is a qualifier meet, and others will take a rest weekend instead of competing at Linfield.
The following are all automatically qualified for the NWAC Championships in May:
Ismayil Abdoulaye: Javelin
Kylie Anderson: Hammer and Shot Put
Amy Barnwell: Hammer
Leikel Cabrera-Gay: Javelin
Daniel Gee: Pole Vault and Decathlon (1st: 10pts)
Isaac Heard: Javelin
Taylor Heie: Pole Vault
Will Hills: Triple Jump
Xavier Hills: Triple Jump and High Jump
James Kelly: Pole Vault, 110m Hurdles, Long Jump, and Decathlon (2nd: 8pts)
Tarron Metz: Pole Vault
Okenoko Pascall: Discus and Shot Put
Rachel Noyce: High Jump and Heptathlon (5th: 4pts)
Kylie Rubrecht: Javelin
Madelyn Sharp: Javelin
Ethan Sumpter: Javelin
Travis Tyler: 100m and 200m
Men's 4x100m Relay
