SPOKANE, Wash. – The strong start to the outdoor season continued on Friday with the second day of the Bucs Scoring and Multi. LC State Track and Field tallied four national-qualifying marks and saw multiple school records fall in Spokane.
“It was another good meet overall. We had a large number of personal-bests today and some national qualifiers,” Head Coach Mike Collins said. “Clayton (VanDyke), Madigan (Kelly) and Anika (Grogan) did well, and I know a lot of our throwers did well. This was the first meet we had with decently good conditions so I am excited for outdoors as it continues to warm up. This is a sport where as weather gets better, the athletes get better prepared and more focused on what they are trying to achieve.”
THE WOMEN
Freshman Madigan Kelly bettered her record in the 100m hurdles and earned an automatic-qualifying mark. She won the event with a time of 14.41. Sara Hathaway (15.18), Ashley Britt (15.75), Makayla McIntosh (16.04) and Keelyn Pilcher (16.33) finished third through sixth, respectively.
Britt took home a win in the 400m hurdles (1:03.46), followed by Kelly in second (1:06.89). Pilcher was fourth (1:07.85).
In the 400m, Anika Grogan bested her previous record in the event with a time of 57.01 to finish second. The time is a B mark for outdoor nationals. Karlie Smith was fifth at 59.00. Grogan also bettered her record in the 200m and finished second in 25.26. Smith placed sixth at 26.57.
Sydnie Zywina set a program-best mark with a leap of 10.71m in the triple jump to take fourth. Alexa Horsley was sixth with a distance of 10.16m.
Emily Adams shaved 15 seconds off her best time in the 1500m and was just two seconds off a national-qualifying time at 4:45.78. She finished 15
th in the field of 37.
In the discus, Cassidy Henderson had a strong showing with a sixth-place finish (30.03m). Rylie Overton was eighth at 28.02m. Henderson hit a personal-best mark of 9.18m in the shot put to take sixth. Overton placed 12
th in the hammer throw (32.26m) and Henderson was 14
th (30.67m).
Geraldin Correa just missed a national-qualifying time in the 800m at 2:16.75. She finished fifth in the 23-person field, with Maja Plaznik (2:27.60), Adams (2:27.99) and Brooklyn Shell (2:28.17) in 13
th, 14
th and 15
th, respectively.
McIntosh finished fourth in the long jump with a distance of 4.42m.
THE MEN
The indoor 800m champion punched his ticket to the outdoor event in his first 800m race of the season. VanDyke set the LC State record and won the event with an automatic-qualifying time of 1:51.13. The time is the best in the NAIA as of Friday. Griffin Parsells was ninth (1:57.00) and Conner May finished 11
th (1:57.82).
“Clayton ran well,” Collins said. “We believe he is capable of running under 1:50, so that is a step in the right direction. Excited for him to potentially to repeat in that distance and maybe another one at outdoors.”
A program record was set in the 4x400m relay by the team of London Kirk, Ike Hopper, Brycen Brown and VanDyke. LC won the event with a time of 3:21.70.
Christian Bothwell scored 5944 points for a career-high in the decathlon. His score meets the minimum needed for nationals and is the third-best by a Warrior. He won both the javelin and 1500m. Caleb Moore finished ninth (4840) and Ian Gardom was 10
th (4662).
“I thought the multis looked good,” Collins said. “Good learning experience for them. Christian hit the qualifying mark and it puts him on the list for nationals. He needs to be in the top 16, so he will need to score 6100 or 6200 to get there.”
Kirk crept closer to the school record in the 200m with a time of 21.94. He finished third in the event and Jaxson Blaker was 12
th (23.71).
Jack Hardee threw to a personal-best mark of 10.88m in the shot put to finish eighth in the event. Jaycob Atencio also recorded a career-best in throwing events with a 34.90m mark in the discus. He took 10th, and Hardee was 14
th (25.36). Atencio hit another PR in the hammer with a throw of 45.23m to place ninth. Hardee was 13
th (36.96m).
“Jaycob had a big PR in the hammer, and I think he has a shot at qualifying for nationals in that event,” Collins added.
Zayne Maughan hit a personal-best height in the pole vault at 4.52m to take third in the event. Nikolous Bertling also hit 4.52m, and did so in fewer attempts to finish second.
The men’s 4x100m relay, featuring Bertling, Kirk, Blaker and Maughan, took third with a time of 44.06.
Chase Barrow led the LC men in the 1500m with a 17
th-place mark (4:04.57). Brycen Kempton was 20
th (4:09.99). Hopper finished fifth in the 110m hurdles (15.79), then took fourth in the 400m hurdles (55.10).
LC State is back in action April 1-2 at the NNU Invitational in Nampa.
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