Bearcats Win Five Events on Second Day of NWC Championships

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

SALEM, ORE. -- Willamette University won five events, including two relays, on the final day of competition at the 2013 Northwest Conference Track and Field Championships at the Charles Bowles Track on Saturday, April 27. The Bearcats won the men's 4 x 100-meter relay in 42.06 seconds and took first place in the women's 4 x 400-meter relay in 4:00.39.

Bekah Daniel (So., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) won the triple jump at 37' 4". Erynn Rebol (Sr., Cottonwood, CA/Red Bluff Union HS) earned first place in the 800-meter run for the second time in her career at 2:15.31. Tom Fiechtner (Jr., Poway, CA/Cathedral HS) was victorious in the men's 200-meter dash with a time of 22.10 seconds.

The Bearcats earned six championships overall, including a win by Michaela Freeby (So., Milwaukie, OR/Rex Putnam HS) in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase on Friday.

Team Standings

Willamette finished second in the men's team standings and was second in the women's team standings.

Whitworth won the men's title with 287 points, while Willamette finished with 132 points and Pacific University was third with 122 points. It was the Pirates' fourth straight championship.

Pacific Lutheran University was fourth in the men's standings with 95 points. University of Puget Sound placed fifth at 64, with Lewis & Clark in sixth at 55, George Fox University in seventh at 47 and Linfield College in eighth at 16.

George Fox achieved the women's team championship with 188.5 points, winning by just eight points over the Bearcats, who scored 180.5 points. It was GFU's third consecutive championship.

Whitworth placed third in the women's standings with 150 points, while Lewis & Clark was fourth with 80 points. Pacific Lutheran took fifth at 74, Linfield was sixth at 72, Puget Sound was seventh at 41 and Pacific was eighth at 33.

Willamette's NWC Champions

The Willamette men's 4 x 100-meter relay team moved into second place on the Bearcats' top 10 list by winning the race in 42.06 seconds, just .07 away from the school record set in 1992.

Running in Saturday's relay were Fiechtner, Chris Luetjen (Jr., Lake Oswego, OR/Lake Oswego HS), Matt Paparella (Fr., Glendale, AZ/Ironwood HS) and Dylan Jones (Fr., Santa Maria, CA/Ernest Righetti HS). Each runner provided a strong leg during the relay, which allowed WU to win by nearly half a second over Whitworth, which finished second in 42.54 seconds.

Fiechtner's 22.10 in the 200-meter dash was .33 in front of Michael Zane of Pacific, who was second in 22.43. Matthew Landon of Whitworth was third in 22.54 and Jones of Willamette was fourth in 22.55. Fiechtner set a personal record of 22.00 during the prelims.

Daniel recorded her top distance of 37' 4" on her first attempt in the finals for a personal record. Rachael Adkins from George Fox took second at 37' 1.75". Rachel Palmquist of Whitworth was third at 36' 11.50" and Elisa Ahern (So., Lake Forest Park, WA/Shorecrest HS) of Willamette was fourth at 36' 9".

Rebol's time of 2:15.31 in the 800-meter run broke her previous personal record by exactly one second. She led a 1-2 finish for the Bearcats. Stevie Gildehaus (Sr., Spokane Valley, WA/University HS) took second place, while setting a personal record at 2:18.67. Rebol previously won an NWC Championship in the 800-meter run as a freshman in 2010.

It was a busy day for Rebol and Daniel. In addition to winning the 800, Rebol took fifth place in the 1,500-meter run in a personal record of 4:45.53, and ran the anchor leg on Willamette's victorious 4 x 400-meter relay team.

Daniel triumphed in the triple jump, ran the third leg on the 4 x 400-meter relay, and placed third in the 100-meter hurdles with a personal record of 15.26 seconds. Daniel was just .06 out of first place in the hurdles.

Freeby's win on Friday was her second NWC title in the steeplechase. It was the eighth consecutive year that a WU runner has won the event.

Bearcats Earn Second Place Finishes

Athletes on both of Willamette's teams placed second in several events on Saturday.

Jones was second in the men's 100-meter dash in 11.05 seconds. I.V. Reeves of Pacific Lutheran won the race in 10.94 seconds.

Fiechtner achieved second place in a close finish with Nick Gosselin from Whitworth in the 400-meter dash. Gosselin took first place in 49.39 seconds and Fiechtner followed in 49.47 seconds.

Kit Kingstad (Jr., Beaverton, OR/Beaverton HS) was edged out by Jarrod Nixon of Lewis & Clark by just .03 in the 800-meter run. Nixon was timed at 4:00.31 and Kingstad was clocked at 4:00.34. Daniel Swanson (So., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) of WU was third in 4:00.68.

Carson Kennedy (So., Forest Grove, OR/Forest Grove HS) placed second in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.50 seconds. Casey Monahan of Whitworth was first in 14.94 seconds. Kennedy also took second place in the triple jump with a personal record of 44' 4". He was second in the long jump on Friday and placed second in the decathlon April 15-16.

Willamette placed second in the 4 x 400-meter relay in 3:22.47. Competing for the Bearcats were Kennedy, Jeff Schreiner-McGraw (So., Philomath, OR/Philomath HS), Nick Celebrezze (Fr., Moscow, ID/Moscow HS) and Fiechtner. Whitworth won the relay in 3:20.35.

In the women's 400-meter dash, Ashland Bernard (Fr., Kirkland, WA/Juanita HS) was second in 59.48 seconds, breaking the personal record she set in the prelims at 59.76. Rachael Kraske of George Fox won the 400 in 58.82.

Gildehaus was second in the 800-meter run (see above) and Freeby was second in the 5,000-meter run with a personal record of 18:09.40.

NWC Special Awards

Thrower Carter Comito of Whitworth was chosen Men's Field Athlete of the Meet and distance runner Tyler Shipley of Pacific was named Men's Track Athlete of the Meet. Whitworth Head Coach Toby Schwarz was selected as the Men's Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive season and the seventh time overall.

Comito set the NWC meet record and the Charles Bowles Track record in the discus on Friday at 195' 3.25". On Saturday, he broke the NWC meet record and his won overall NWC record in the shot put with a toss of 59' 2". His previous conference record was 58' 9.25".

George Fox heptathlete Beth Stam was named Women's Field Athlete of the Meet. Distance runner Emily Thomas from Lewis & Clark was selected Women's Track Athlete of the Meet. GFU Head Coach John Smith received Women's Coach of the Year honors for the fourth season in a row.