Busek Wins Two Events, Sets Hammer Record At Rich Allen Classic
Results
NEWBERG, Ore. – Murphy Busek (Sr., Mountain View, Hawaii) won two events and reset his own school record in the hammer Saturday, leading four individual event winners for Pacific at the Rich Allen Classic, held at George Fox's Colcord Field.
Busek won the hammer with a throw of 155 feet, 8 inches. The effort was over a foot better than his old record of 154 feet, 7 inches, which he threw at last year's Northwest Conference Championships. Busek also took top honors in the shot put, beating a field of eight competitors with a mark of 42 feet, 8.75 inches. In addition, Busek placed second in the discus with a throw of 128 feet, 4 inches.
John Fredericks (Sr., Forest Grove, Ore.) was Pacific's other champion on the men's side of the ledger. He won the pole vault with a mark of 13 feet, 4.5 inches.
On the women's side, Nicole Smith (Sr., Wailuku, Hawaii) won the 200 meters with her third best time of the season at 27.05 seconds. Lauren Barnard (Jr., Lyons, Colo.) won the 800 meters, capturing the event in a season best and NWC Championships qualifying time of 2:25.41. The Boxers' 1,600-meter relay team of Kori Bellwood (Fr., Yamhill, Ore.), Smith, Jessica Head (Fr., North Bend, Ore.) and Punneh Abdolhosseini (Fr., Seattle, Wash.) won in a time of 4:29.85.
The four victories led second place finishes for both the men's and women's teams in the final tune-up before next week's NWC Championships at Linfield College. Pacific's men compiled 186 points, finishing behind Linfield's winning total of 201 points. The Pacific women scored 146 points and also finished second behind the Wildcats.
Pacific saw three more athletes earn qualifying marks for the NWC Championships in the last possible meet. In addition to Barnard's mark in the 800 meters, Jenny Novak (Jr., Dexter, Ore.) qualified in the women's javelin with a mark of 102 feet, 8 inches. Steve Stoller (Sr., Canby, Ore.) qualified in the men's 800 meters with his second place time of 1:59.49.
The Boxers received runner-up finished from three other men's athletes and one relay. Avery Neal (Jr., Los Alamos, N.M.) finished second in the 400 meters with a time of 51.30 seconds. Nathan Gilpin (Sr., Oregon City, Ore.) was second in the 400-meter hurdles in 59.78 seconds and Alex Florence (Sr., Tigard, Ore.) was second in the 200 meters with a time of 23.20 seconds. In addition, the Boxers' 400-meter relay team of Craig Bailey (Fr., Fairfield, Calif.), Florence, Michael Hunker (So., Cornelius, Ore.) and
Aaron Koford (Fr., Wilsonville, Ore.) finished second with a season best time of 43.49 seconds.
Abdolhosseini placed second in the women's 800 meters, clocking 2:28.35, while Bellwood placed second in the 400-meter hurdles with a season best of 1:09.35. Sam Lee (Sr., Fort Wayne, Ind.) finished second in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:58.20.
Pacific and the rest of the Northwest Conference will convene in McMinnville next weekend as the NWC Track & Field Championships take place at Linfield's Maxwell Field. Action begins on Friday at 2 p.m.
