The Mountaineers' Alma Garcilazo leads her 800 meter heat.
EUGENE, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University track and field team hit eight NAIA auto-qualifying marks at the Oregon Relays and Pacific Twilight Saturday.
Chris Dilley threw the third best toss in the NAIA this season in the hammer throw. The senior’s throw of 199 feet, four inches placed him third in Saturday’s event. Dilley beat competitors from Oregon, Eastern Washington, and Wichita State. Idaho’s James Rogan won the event with a throw of 221 feet, seven inches.
Alma Garcilazo ran the sixth fastest 800 meter time in the NAIA this season in Eugene. The sophomore won her heat at Hayward Field with a time of 2:12.01. She finished the event in eighth place. The Umatilla, Ore. native reset her own school record she set at the Stanford Invite in March. It was the second of four school records broke on the weekend.
The third new school record belonged to Eastern Oregon’s Ryan Booth and Andrew Perri. Each broke
the NAIA auto-qualifying time in the men’s 800 meters and Greg Castellaw's previous record of 1:51.80 set in 1977. The pair began their heat in the same lane, and finished with the third and fifth fastest times this season in the NAIA. Booth crossed the line 1:50.64 and Perri’s time was 1:51.20. The NAIA auto-qualifying time is 1:53.50.
The EOU women’s 4x400-meter relay team already had an NAIA auto-qualifying time this season, but did it again Saturday. The Mountaineers’ 3:57.48 was fifth in the event. The Eastern quartet was Kimmy Moore, Grace Deboodt, Sarah Hanchett, and Garcilazo.
There were a number of fine performances at the Pacific University Twilight meet in Forest Grove, Ore. Coach Bortz’s throws crew turned in a very solid day, highlighted by Ashlee Michelson in the hammer throw. The senior threw a new personal record of 117 feet, six inches, a season best 40 feet, three inches in the shot put, and a college best for her in the Discus with 131 feet, two inches. Mitch Wheelhouse (149-04), Jake Wilcox (135-03) and Tyler Bruck (126-02) all had season best in the discus too. Wilcox and Bruck hit personal records.
On the track, assistant coach Jack Kegg's sprinters had a quality day. Kelsey Kinzer led the way for the women with a season best in the 100 meters (12.97), and a new personal record in the 200 meters (26.55). Drew Wise dipped under 50.0 in the 400 meters (49.70), and ran very well in the 4x400-meter relay race too.
For the long distance runners, Terry Johnsen set the bar with a 27-second PR and the win in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:58.64. All four steeplechasers, Nancy Cardenas, Christy Roe, Zach Seely and Michael Wanta set new personal records as well.
The meet ended with two quality performances when the foursome of Talissa Baldovino, Sierra Engler, Jessianne Heley and Sarah Hanchett slipped in under the NAIA auto-qualifying time in the women’s 4x800-meter relay by 1.5 seconds to run 9:33.50.
The men's 4x400-meter relay team saved some fireworks for the end with school record number four. Not only did the quartet of Booth, Dustin Cloud, Perri and Wise break the old EOU record of 3:17.93 set in 2009, they broke the meet record by over four seconds, won by the same margin, and just missed the NAIA auto mark. Their time of 3:17.03 misses the auto mark by 0.03 of a second.
The Mountaineers have a week off until the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships on May 13 to 15 at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, Ore.