MEET RESULTS
WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES (through 11 events) – 1. British Columbia 148, 2. College of Idaho 67, 3. Southern Oregon 65, 4. Eastern Oregon 42, 5. Lewis-Clark State 41, 6. Corban 33, 7. Bushnell 21, 8. Oregon Tech 8, 9. Northwest 2.
ASHLAND – British Columbia took a commanding lead through Day 1 of the Cascade Conference Women’s Track and Field Championships presented by U.S. Bank, producing six individual champions in 10 events on Friday at Raider Stadium.
The Thunderbirds accumulated 148 points, putting them well ahead of the defending co-champion College of Idaho (67 points) and third-place Southern Oregon (65). Day 2 starts at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Below is a chronological recap of Friday’s events:
HAMMER: C of I’s Catylynn Duff, the CCC’s top qualifier, won her second straight title with a throw of 177-0 and SOU’s KiAshe Hobby placed top-two for the third time in her career with a mark of 168-6. The third- and fourth-place finishers, UBC’s Michelle Dadson (166-1) and EOU’s Kenna Woodward (165-2), hit NAIA ‘A’ marks for the first time this season.
POLE VAULT: UBC’s Sage Stoyka Kay took a first-place tiebreaker over LCSC’s Cynthia Smith as both qualified automatically for the NAIA Championships by clearing 11-11 ¾ to hit the ‘A’ standard on the nose. Corban’s Maggie Ramey (11-3 ¾) earned the third All-CCC spot and EOU had four scorers in the event.
STEEPLECHASE: The top-ranked steeplechase runner in the NAIA, UBC’s Jenna Melanson, took down another CCC record in a race that featured five ‘A’ marks and the three fastest times in meet history. Melanson’s time of 10:20.56 was nearly 25 seconds better than the previous record, and she beat out C of I’s Sage Martin (10:32.98) and UBC’s Jamie Hennessey (10:37.83). Corban’s Gracie Long (10:55.67) and UBC’s Annika Austin (11:17.72) missed out on All-CCC positioning despite their ‘A’ times.
LONG JUMP: Emma Rastad became an automatic national qualifier and a CCC champion by jumping 19-0 ¾ as UBC swept all-conference honors in the event. Allison Macdonald (18-8 ½) was the runner-up and Rebecca Dutchak (18-4 ¼) placed third.
SHOT PUT: For the second year in a row, EOU’s Maggie Ledbetter won the shot put with a mark of 45-9 ¼ that made her an automatic qualifier for the NAIA Championships. Michelle Dadson of UBC (44-4) was 17 inches back as the runner-up, and C of I’s Catylynn Duff (42-3 ½) captured third place.
4x100-METER RELAY: In taking its fifth consecutive title, SOU’s 4x1 team broke the meet record for the second straight year with a time of 46.11 seconds produces by Aayzia Dumas, Camille Lawrence, Baylee Touey and Lindsey Bonney. UBC’s time of 46.27 seconds also eclipsed the previous record, and C of I posted its first NAIA ‘A’ time (47.85) in third place.
1,500 METERS: The first four placers were Thunderbirds in another dominant race led by champion Katie Newlove (4:33.11), who had her team’s sixth-fastest time entering the meet. Rachel Mortimer (4:34.43) and Kyla Becker (4:34.69) were the other All-CCC finishers, and Abby Ylipahkala (4:35.60) was just a second behind in fourth.
100-METER HURDLES: UBC’s Hassy Fashina-Bombata – the second-place finisher in the CCC heptathlon – stopped C of I’s streak of five straight 100-hurdle victories with a time of 14.20 seconds to edge runner-up Madigan Kelly (14.29) of LCSC. Valerie Schmidt (14.31) piled on another All-CCC honor in third.
400 METERS: UBC’s Katherine Lucas, the pre-meet favorite in three races, performed as advertised in the 400 with a 55.94-second win that went down as a season-best. The next four placers also hit NAIA ‘A’ marks: LCSC runner-up Anika Grogan, third-place Camille Lawrence (56.49) of SOU, fourth-place Cayla Smith (56.76) of UBC, and fifth-place Erin Gibson (56.85) of SOU. Smith was the only one who had it previously.
10,000 METERS: Running her first 10K of the season, Ellyse Tingelstad was the fourth different C of I runner to claim the title in four seasons with a time of 38:03.18. The Yotes also produced the runner-up, Roba Anna (38:30.83), and Bushnell’s Rebecca Kuskie (40:18.74) placed third in the seven-person race.