Colignon Wins NWC Decathlon Title; Miller Places Third in Heptathlon

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SPOKANE. WASH. -- Evin Colignon (Sr., Poulsbo, WA/Charles Wright Academy) from Willamette University won the Northwest Conference decathlon championship as the NWC Multi-Event Championships concluded on Tuesday, April 13 at Boppell Track. Willamette's Brandi Miller (Jr., Grants Pass, OR/North Valley HS) took third place in the heptathlon.

Colignon and Miller each achieved an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying score.

Colignon completed his winning performance with a score of 6,419, as he improved on his earlier provisional qualifying score of 6,207, set at the Linfield Multi-Events on March 21-22. Colignon won the NWC title by 278 points over Nate Dillow of George Fox University, who finished in second with 6,141 points. David Dillow of George Fox was third with 6,037 points.

Luke Mathews from Whitworth was fourth with 5,939 points and Evan Staley of Whitworth was fifth with 5,647 points. Barrett Bollen of Pacific Lutheran University took sixth with 5,617 points. Trevor May (Sr., Florence, OR/Siuslaw HS) from Willamette placed seventh with 5,391 points. A total of 12 athletes competed in the decathlon.

Colignon took first place in the shot put (45'10") and the discus (122'0"), while finishing in the top five in nine of the events. He was second in the javelin (169'1") and tied for second in the high jump (5'9.25"). He placed third in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.39 seconds. He was fifth in the 100-meter dash (11.55 seconds), long jump (20'7.25"), 400-meter dash (52.24 seconds) and the pole vault (11'11.75").

He set a personal record in the pole vault. Colignon's previous best vault was 11'7".

Nate Dillow won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.73 seconds. His brother, David Dillow, won four events -- the 100-meter dash (11.45 seconds), long jump (22'0.75") and high jump (5'10.50") on Monday, and the pole vault (14'3.25") on Tuesday. Bollen placed first in the 400-meter dash (51.24 seconds) and the 1,500-meter run (4:19.58). Myles McDonald from the University of Puget Sound won the javelin with a toss of 177'1".

Miller earned her first provisional qualifying score in the heptathlon with 4,102 points for a new personal record. Her previous career best was achieved earlier this year at Linfield, when she scored 4,059 points, finishing 41 points short of the provisional standard.

Alexis Arnold from George Fox won the heptathlon with 4,456 points. Beth Stam, also from GFU, placed second with a score of 4,266 points. Following Miller were Melissa Leighty of George Fox in fourth with 3,848 points and Alyssa Turner of George Fox in fifth with 3,806 points.

Kasey Fisher from Pacific University placed sixth and scored 3,717 points, as she finished one point in front of Katheryn Jahsen of Pacific Lutheran, who took seventh at 3,716 points. Overall, 10 athletes participated in the heptathlon.

Miller placed second in two events, the 100-meter hurdles (15.89 seconds) and the 800-meter run (2:26.46). She was third in the 200-meter dash (26.93 seconds) and the shot put (32'3"). She took fourth in the long jump at 15'7". She was in the top five in all seven events.

Event winners for the women were: Arnold in the 100-meter hurdles (15.16 seconds), 200-meter dash (26.57 seconds) and long jump (17'0.50"); Stam in the high jump (5'1"), shot put (37'2.50") and javelin (125'2"); and Turner in the 800-meter run (2:25.12).

Athletes finishing in the top eight of the final decathlon and heptathlon standings earned points for their respective teams toward the overall NWC track and field titles. On the men's side, George Fox registered 14 points, while Willamette achieved 12 points, Whitworth had 10 points and Pacific Lutheran earned three points.

In the women's standings, George Fox amassed 27 points, followed by Willamette with six points, Pacific with three points, Pacific Lutheran with two points and Whitworth with one point.

The rest of the NWC Championships will be held at Maxwell Field on the campus of Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., on April 22-23. Action is set to begin at 2 p.m. on Friday, April 22 and at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 23.