Track shifts into high gear at First Chance
Men's and women's squads host first home meet of season, recording many strong marks
Amanda Miles
The men's and women's track and field squads have already had a couple outdoor meets, but they kicked the season into high gear with the first home meet of the season, the First Chance Meet, on March 31 and April 1.
Highlights for the Wolves included efforts Friday night by their distance runners. Junior Nick Crawford raced his way to the fifth-best mark all-time at Western in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:58.34, the best mark by a Western athlete since 1992. Crawford finished second in the race, less than two seconds behind Alaska Anchorage's David Kiplagat, who won in 14:56.73. The time is the third fastest in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC), and Crawford also has conference leading times in the 1,500 (4:00.09) and 3,000 (8:30.25) from previous efforts.
Freshman Jessica Harper also ran her way into the Western record books with a 4:50.48 clocking in the 1,500 meters, the school's tenth-best mark. She just beat out senior teammate Stephanie Upshaw (4:51.36) for first place in the event. Those times currently rank fourth and fifth in the conference.
Jason Buckmier also provided another Wolves highlight with his efforts in the long jump. Buckmier recorded the seventh best mark in GNAC history at 22 feet, eight and one-half inches, which stands at the top of the conference charts. The junior was named the male GNAC Athlete-of-the-Week for his performance.
Senior Bridget Johnson earned Co-GNAC Athlete-of-the-Week honors on the women's side for her performance in the Linfield Multi-Events earlier in the week, on March 27-28. Johnson, who was an all-American last year after finishing sixth at nationals in the heptathlon, recorded an NCAA provisional mark of 4,890 points, which currently ranks third on the national charts. She also earned a provisional mark in the javelin during the competition, with a throw of 147 feet, which is the second-best throw in school history. The mark is also just eight feet short of the automatic qualifying distance and currently leads the nation.
The men's and women's squads have a short drive to their next competition, the Willamette invitational, held April 7-8 at McCulloch Stadium on the Willamette University campus. Distance events will be held Friday starting at 4 p.m. Sprints, relays and field events start at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.