Western Oregon Journal

Issue date: 2/18/09 Section: Sports

The Wolves' track team, led by experienced coach Mike Johnson, will travel to Nampa, Idaho this weekend to compete in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship meet. Last year, the women finished fourth while the men won the title.
Both teams look to be in good shape heading in; as of last week, 84 of the meet's 208 spots were held by Western athletes. Because many of the Wolves will not participate in all of the events in which they have qualified, many of those spots will be available for athletes from other teams. Nonetheless, it is an impressive number.
In addition to the depth of Western's squad, the Wolves also have a slew of individual talent at the top end of their respective events.
One example of the talent is sophomore Zeke Van Patten, who leads the conference in the 800 and is second in the mile. He is slated to run both races in the meet and hopes to overcome his mile race in the meet last year, which was memorable for the wrong reasons.
In 2008's meet, Van Patten was not known as a contender as he had not achieved much in his young collegiate running career. However, he raced his way into the lead with less than a lap to go. He looked strong as he was pulling away from the rest of the field, and it appeared to be a huge upset. Then disaster struck; Van Patten lost his balance and fell off the track.
"It motivates me to want to win it more," Van Patten said of last year's mishap. "I hope I don't fall off [the track] again."
Junior Jeff Long is not too far off Van Patten's pace and is ranked one spot behind his sophomore teammate in both of their events.
On the women's side, another sophomore looks to lead the Wolves. Annan Applebee is ranked sixth in the nation with her 2:12.87 in the 800-meter run and continues to improve.
"Getting that [national] automatic [qualifying] time is my number one goal for the conference," said Applebee. She is short of the time by only 0.17 seconds, but will most likely qualify for the national meet anyway.
More key players for the men are sophomore sprinters Gabe Aguilar and Ashtin Mott. Aguilar is ranked second on the school's all-time list in the 60-meter dash (6.96) while Mott is ranked third (7.02 last season). They are ranked first and fourth, respectively, in the GNAC this year.
Mott won last year's conference meet in both the 60-meter dash and the 200-meter dash as a true freshman. He has shown versatility, winning the outdoor 400-meter race last season. He ran a 400m last weekend to qualify for the indoor championship, expanding the possibility of Wolves' wins in the three sprint events.
Senior Zeb Udell looks to add more hardware to his already impressive collection, as he is ranked first in the conference for the long jump by over a foot (22 feet, 11 inches). Udell is also ranked second in the pole vault (15'1"), third in the high jump (6'4") and eighth in the 60-meter dash (7.19). He was voted last year's Most Outstanding Performer at the indoor conference championship.
For the women, look for multi-event star Jacque Helbing (formerly Postlewait) to score some points. She is ranked fifth in the long jump and second in the 60-meter hurdles. She may also run a leg on Western's 4x400-meter relay team.
Sophomore Andy Loscutoff looks to play a big role in the Wolves' championship hopes as he is ranked first in the GNAC in the 60-meter hurdles (8.51) by a considerable margin, third in the 400-meter run, and ninth in the 200-meter dash. Loscutoff, last year's conference champion in the outdoor 110-meter hurdles race as a true freshman, could also run a leg of the 4x400-meter relay.

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