Meet Results
LA GRANDE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University track and field enjoyed the rare home field advantage Saturday for the annual EOU Open.
Alma Garcilazo had a big day for the Mountaineers with a pair of wins. The sophomore hit two automatic qualifiers for the NAIA National Championships at the meet. The Umatilla, Ore. native has now hit four auto-qualifying marks in 2010 for the national meet which is in May in Marion, Indiana.
Garcilazo won the women’s 1,500 meters with a time of 4:40.40, possibly the fastest 1,500 time run on the EOU track by a woman. She outran unattached runner Jen Puzey’s time of 4:41.82. Treasure Valley Community College’s Shannon Porter placed third with a time of 4:42.84.
Garcilazo ended the meet with an amazing anchor leg for the Eastern Oregon women’s 4x400-meter relay team. Her final lap was just under 56 seconds, and the team of Garcilazo, Sierra Engler, Sarah Hanchett, and Talissa Baldovino finished with a time of 3:55.91.
Eastern Oregon Assistant Coach Dirk Bortz’s throwing crew put up some strong marks and competed well. Senior Mitch Wheelhouse won three events the Hammer Throw at 168’4”, Discus at 137’ 3” and Shot Put with a season’s best 46’1.25”. Freshman Jake Wilcox had a strong day in the shot put, improving on his 16-pound ball personal record by about a foot with a 44’ 7” toss.
For the women, Ashlee Michelson had a solid day, putting up her best mark in a college uniform in the 
Discus with a toss of 127’ 6”. Freshman Kelsey Irish put together a personal record in the Javelin with her throw of 121’ 0”, breaking her PR by 11 feet
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In other field event action, sophomore Maddison Stapleton jumped to a personal record and a NAIA Provisional Qualifying mark of 11’3”. Her previous outdoor PR was 10’ 0”.
Another EOU Assistant coach, Jack Kegg, had several athletes turn in strong performances today. Senior Grace Deboodt and Junior Melisa Abesa both put up strong marks in the women’s 400 meters. Deboodt just missed her PR with a time of 59.39, and Abesa smashed her open 400 meter personal record with a time of 60.09. Both came back with strong 200 meter races as well.
Junior Andrew Wise had a busy day running a strong a 50.47 in the 400 meters for second, and 22.89 to tie with teammate Ryan Booth for the win in the 200 meters. Wise also had a third place finish in the 100 meters, which was right after the 400 meters, to finish third in 11.54.
Sophomore Jessianne Heley (68.89), Freshman Sierra Engler (68.94) and Freshman McKinzie Anderson (70.09) all ran in the 400 Hurdles. The two freshmen ran the longer college distance for the first time.
Sophomore middle distance standout Booth had a very good day as well, crushing his previous PR of 50.80 in the 400 to turn in a strong 49.27. Interesting thing about the 200 was Booth and Wise were both in different heats and hit the exact same time.
In the longer races, Freshman Kody Coxen ran two personal records, one in the 1,500 meters (4:03.49) and the other in the 800 meters (2:00.60). Freshman Tyler June ran a new PR (2:02.63) in heat two of the 800 to win his heat. Terry Johnsen ran tough in the 5k for third and Justin Dean ran his first 5K of the year to qualify for the Cascade Collegiate Conference championship meet.
In the women’s distance races there were some strong performances in the 1,500 meters. Freshman Nancy Cardenas won heat two with a time of 5:03.10. Fellow Freshmen Talissa Baldovino (5:00.79) and Sarah Hanchett (4:51.85) both ran PR’s as well.
Engler put the team near the front on the opening leg (61.3 seconds) and Hanchett (59.6) put the Mountaineers in the lead for good, while third leg Baldovino opened the gap up with a very strong 59.0. Their time of 3:55.91 seconds is the second fastest in school history behind the 2009 National meet squad’s mark of 3:55.51. More importantly, it surpasses the NAIA Auto time of 3:58.25 by a wide margin.
Eastern Oregon travels to Nampa, Idaho next Saturday for the NNU Invitational. The Mountaineers now have less than a month before the conference championships in Gresham, Ore. on May 13.