Heino is Second, Lemesh is Third in Women's Steeplechase during Lane CC Open

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

EUGENE, Ore. -- Willamette University completed the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a 2-3-4 finish at the Lane Community College Open on Saturday, March 9, as Zoe Heino (So., Portland, OR/Mountainside HS) placed second, Anastasiia Lemesh (So., Chernihiv, Ukraine) was third, and Morgan Shaw (Fy., Redmond, OR/Ridgeview HS) placed fourth. Heino was timed at 12:03.29, Lemesh crossed the finish lane in 12:14.70, and Shaw registered a time of 12:16.20

Gabrielle Metzger from Multnomah University won the steeplechase. Her time was 11:29.26.

Heino and Lemesh were joined by two other members of the Willamette women's track and field team who placed among the top three finishers in an event on Saturday. Also earning top three results were Mashani Coleman Toliver (So., Bellevue, WA/Sammamish HS) in the 400-meter hurdles and Kaiona Apio (Sr., Edmonds, WA/Edmonds-Woodway HS) in the javelin throw.

In the 400-meter hurdles, Coleman Toliver placed third with a time of 1:09.77. Teammate Katie Briggs (So., Las Vegas, NVV/Faith Lutheran HS) was fourth in the event at 1:10.46 and Sage Miller (So., Valley Springs, CA/Calaveras HS) placed sixth in 1:11.90.

Apio took third place out of 22 competitors in the javelin with a toss of 112' 10". Kylie Rubrecht from Umpqua Community College won the javelin as she registered a top throw of 116' 8". Trinity Blanton from Lane CC was second at 115' 11".

In addition to the fourth place finishes by Shaw in the steeplechase and by Briggs in the 400-meter hurdles, the Bearcats also received a fourth place finish from Erica Snyder (So., Longview, WA/Mark Morris HS) in the long jump. Snyder's top distance was 16' 6.50".

Lavender Bel (Fy., Puyallup, WA/Graham-Kapowsin HS) of Willamette placed seventh in the 100-meter hurdles out of 19 entries. She earned a time of 16.70 seconds and was 0.35 out of tying for fourth place. Isabel Tapley of Lane CC won the 100 hurdles in 15.47 seconds, as she edged out Abi Stevens from Southern Oregon University, who was second in 15.48.

Also for Willamette, Aven Roberts (So., Missoula, MT/Hellgate HS) achieved ninth place in the 1,500-meter run with a personal record time of 5:11.86. Her previous best time was 5:22.49 at last year's Lane CC Open. Syder was ninth in the shot put with a distance of 31' 8.50". Kenzie Lee (So., Kaneohe, HI/Mid-Pacific Institute) of WU placed ninth in the 400-meter dash at 1:03.52. Lee was 0.30 out of fifth place.

Willamette is scheduled to participate in the Rich Allen Classic at George Fox University on Saturday, March 16. The meet will be held at Stoffer Family Stadium in Newberg, Oregon.