CU senior Eric Whalen set the No. 1 mark in the NAIA shot put on Saturday.
COMPLETE RESULTS
McMINNVILLE, Ore.—Taking advantage of near perfect conditions at Maxwell Field, Concordia University grabbed 16 event wins at the Jenn Boyman Invitational, held at Linfield College on Saturday.
Senior thrower Eric Whalen recorded a pair of wins with a 190-11 toss in the javelin before crushing the school record in the shot put with an NAIA-leading 56-9 1/4. Automatically qualified to nationals in both events, Whalen’s shot put mark added more than a foot to his previous outdoor best of 55-8 1/2. His javelin distance, meanwhile, rests at No. 5 in the nation.
Whalen led a 1-2-3 finish in the men’s shot put with teammates Ismael Osorio (51-3 3/4) and Anthony Lantz (50-4 3/4) taking the nest two places.
Bo Johnson nearly replicated the duo-win feat with the day’s top distance in the discus with a 156-8 but with a 187-5 in the hammer Johnson yielded to post-collegian competitor Bryan Kolaz’s 197-6 to settle for second place.
In the women’s throws, Gabriella Dixson posted a pair of season-best efforts with a 47-1 1/2 heave in the shot put and a 159-3 in the discus. Sharayah Kenady toppled the hammer-throw field with a 177-9 while Aria Nojima placed second in the javelin with a 151-10 to nearly pull off wins in all four throwing disciplines.
Junia Limage took part in three of those wins with first-place finishes in the 800- and 1,500-meter runs while also anchoring the women’s 1,600-meter relay quad to victory.
In the 1,500, Limage used a strong kick over the last 200 meters, making up 30 meters alone on the backstretch, to nip post-collegian Jordyn Smith at the line 4:36.22 to 4:36.28. A personal record by nearly four full seconds, Limage’s time is good for No. 2 on the NAIA national performance list.
Following Limage, Lauren Moran, Sarah Whybark and Natalie Ball all set person records in the race as Moran crossed in 4:42.77 for fourth, Whybark in 4:48.16 fort sixth and Ball in 4:50.63 for seventh overall.
Limage defeated Ball in the 800 by finishing in 2:18.22 compared to 2:21.04 for the freshman and later teamed up with her two 1,500 running mates and short sprinter Kristin Monda in the winning 1,600 relay.
Branko Djuricic earned an NAIA ‘A’ qualifier while winning the triple jump with a season-best 47-7 3/4 while Kristin Sass earned the women’s title in the event with a 34-11 1/4.
The Cavalier men took both hurdle titles as Maxwell Waters improved his time in the 110-meter version for the third straight week with a 15.34 and James Ratliff going on to win the 400-meter hurdles with an unchallenged 54.47, winning the one-lap race by more than two seconds.
The CU men captured wins in both relays. DeAndre Jackson, Jordan Reeher, Justin Oliveri and Eric Tolento covered the track in a school-record 42.50 for the 400-meter relay. Edgar Vazquez and Cory Pena teamed up with Jackson and Ratliff to win the 1,600-emeter relay with a 3:24.58.
Reeher, who competed in four events on Saturday, also won the long jump in a near school-record breaking jump of 22-8.