Willamette Invitational Set for Charles Bowles Track on Saturday, March 25

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications,

SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University is ready to host the 2017 Willamette Invitational at Charles Bowles Track on Saturday, March 25. Each spring, the Willamette Invitational is one of the featured competitions on the West Coast.

Action is set to begin in field events at 9:30 a.m. (PDT). Track events will get underway at 11:30 a.m. The Charles Bowles Celebration of Distance will start at 5:20 p.m. with the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Joining the Stanford Invitational, the Oregon Relays and the Mt. SAC Relays as one of the top West Coast events, the Willamette Invitational brings a talented group of athletes to Salem each track and field season.

Charles Bowles Track is located at McCulloch Stadium in Bush's Pasture Park, near the intersection of Mission Street and Winter Street.

This year's competition will feature 17 four-year colleges and a three two-year colleges. Also participating will be six club teams as well as unattached athletes. Two years ago, four Charles Bowles Track records were set. Last year, two records were broken and one record was tied.

NCAA Division III teams entered in this weekend/s meet are Northwest Conference rivals Willamette, Lewis & Clark College, Linfield College, Pacific University and George Fox University. NCAA Division II teams participating are the University of Alaska-Anchorage, Central Washington University, Concordia University (Ore.), Northwest Nazarene University (Idaho) and Western Oregon University.

NCAA Division I will be represented by athletes from Oregon State University, the University of Portland and Portland State University.

Competing from the NAIA are teams from Corban University, Northwest Christian University (Ore.), Multnomah University (Ore.) and Warner Pacific College (Ore.).

The first field events on Saturday will be the men's discus, women's shot put, men's long jump and women's long jump at 9:30 a.m. The track events will get underway at 11:30 a.m. with the 4 x 100-meter relay races.

The 10th Annual Charles Bowles Celebration of Distance, featuring the fastest heats in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase, men's and women's 1,500-meter run, and men's and women's 5,000-meter run, will be featured at the end of the meet. The final event, the men's 5,000-meter run will start at 6:15 p.m.

Nearly all of the events will be held at the Charles Bowles Track. The exception will be the hammer throw, which will take place at 1850 Oxford SE behind the Math Learning Center.

In the running events, athletes will compete against the clock, with multiple heats scheduled for all events except for relays. The throwing events, long jump, triple jump, high jump and pole vault will have three attempts per athlete, with the top nine competitors advancing to the finals.

A total of approximately 500 athletes representing about 900 event entries will participate in this weekend's meet. There are 40 athletes entered in the men's 1,500-meter run and the women's 200-meter dash. The women's 100-meter dash has 37 entries and the men's 5,000-meter run has 36 entries.

Track events with five heats are the women's 100-meter dash, men's 100-meter dash, women's 200-meter dash, and men's 200-meter dash. There are four heats scheduled in the men's 1,500-meter run.

Most of the field events will have two flights of competitors, with three flights in the women's discus and the women's javelin, and one flight in the men's javelin and the men's hammer throw. The largest field events based on the number of entries are the women's javelin throw (31), women's discus throw (30) and women's hammer throw (30). The largest men's field events are the discus throw (23) and the long jump (21).

Parking near Bush's Pasture Park will be in high demand. Fans should check the parking areas on both sides of the park, as well as nearby areas in Salem.

The Willamette University parking lot near the Sparks Center is open to the public on Saturday. The Sparks Center lot is located at the intersection of Bellevue and 12th Street, two to three blocks from Bush's Pasture Park.

Please note that parking at Salem Hospital is not available and is only for hospital personnel and related business.

2017 Willamette Invitational

Saturday, March 25

Field Events
9:30 a.m. - Mens Discus
9:30 a.m. - Women's Shot Put
9:30 a.m. - Men's Long Jump
9:30 a.m. - Women's Long Jump
11:30 a.m. - Women's Discus
11:30 a.m. - Women's Javelin
11:30 a.m. - Men's Shot Put
11:30 a.m. - Women's Triple Jump
11:30 a.m. - Men's Triple Jump
2:00 p.m. - Men's High Jump (women to follow)
2:00 p.m. - Women's's Pole Vault (men to follow)
2:00 p.m. - Men's Javelin
2:00 p.m. - Men's Hammer (women to follow)

Track Events (Fastest heats first under 1,500m)
11:30 a.m. - Women's 4 x 100m relay (1 heat)
11:35 a.m. - Men's 4 x 100m relay (1 heat)
11:55 a.m. - Women's 100m hurdles (2 heats)
12:15 p.m. - Men's 110m hurdles (2 heats)
12:30 p.m. - Women's 400m (3 heats)
12:40 p.m. - Men's 400m (3 heats)
12:55 p.m. - Women's 100m (4 heats)
1:15 p.m. - Men's 100m (3 heats)
1:30 p.m. - Women's 800m (2 heats)
1:40 p.m. - Men's 800m (4 heats)
2:00 p.m. - Women's 400m hurdles (3 heats)
2:15 p.m. - Men's 400m hurdles (2 heats)
2:30 p.m. - Women's 200m (4 heats)
2:50 p.m. - Men's 200m (4 heats)
3:10 p.m. - Women's 4 x 400m relay (1 heat)
3:15 p.m. - Men's 4 x 400m relay (1 heat)
Break
3:50 p.m. - Women's 3000m Steeplechase
4:10 p.m. - Men's 1500m - D section
4:20 p.m. - Men's 1500m - C section
4:30 p.m. - Women's 1500m - B section
4:40 p.m. - Men's 1500m - B section
4:50 p.m. - Men's 5000m - B section

Charles Bowles Celebration of Distance*
5:20 p.m. - Men's 3000m Steeplechase
5:35 p.m. - Women's 1500m - A section
5:43 p.m. - Men's 1500m - A section
5:50 p.m. - Women's 5000m - A section
6:15 p.m. - Men's 5000m - A section

* Fastest heat in each distance race