Track & Field Weekly Notebook
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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC TRACK & FIELD
FIFTH ANNUAL PACIFIC TWILIGHT
Fri., Apr. 27, 4 p.m., and Sat., Apr. 28, 10 a.m.
Lincoln Park Stadium, Forest Grove
Meet Schedule:
http://bit.ly/IahqlJ
Live Results:
www.goboxers.com/livestats
FINAL HOME MEET NEXT AS BOXERS HOST PACIFIC TWILIGHT
After another successful season of improvement at the Northwest Conference Championships, the Pacific track and field teams prepare for their final home meet of the 2012 season. One of the top small college meets on the West Coast awaits as the fifth annual Pacific Twilight takes place Friday and Saturday at Lincoln Park Stadium.
BOXER BYTES
• While the team scores may not reflect it, Pacific made significant strides at the NWC Championships with over 40 athletes competing at the meet. Pacific's men finished sixth out of eight teams with 50.5 points, just 7.5 points behind fifth place George Fox. The Pacific women were eighth with 43 points.
• Michael Hunker earned All-Northwest Conference honors twice over with two top-three finishes in the hurdles. The junior finished second in the 400-meter hurdles in a close race. His time of 55.86 seconds ranks No. 5 on Pacific's all-time list. Earlier in the day, Hunker was third in the 110-meter hurdles in a time of 15.51 seconds.
• Trent Dixon earned All-NWC honors in the high jump, placing third with a height of 6 feet, 2 inches. Kelson Kawai also earned all-conference laurels with a third place finish in the triple jump. His mark of 44 feet, 3.25 inches is No. 8 on Pacific's all-time list.
• Kelli Aken-Pagdilao lowered her school record in the 100 meters and earned All-NWC honors in the event. Aken-Pagdilao ran a record 12.67 seconds in the preliminaries and placed third in the final with a time of 12.76 seconds.
• Nicole Smith also earned All-NWC honors in the long jump, placing third by equaling her season best mark of 17 feet. Chloe Hallyburton placed fourth in the high jump. Her leap of 5 feet,1 inch is third best in school history.
• Pacific also scored school records in both women's relays. The 400-meter relay of Kelli Aken-Pagdilao, Kori Bellwood, Jenna Matsumoto and Nicole Smith rank 49.36 seconds to better the record by nearly a second. The 1,600-meter relay squad of Smith, Hayley Palmer, Bellwood and Aken-Pagdilao ran 4:12.58 to better Pacific's seven-year-old record by over a second.
• The Pacific Twilight will once again feature a highly competitive field featuring teams from nearly every level of college athletics. The field will feature 17 college teams, including Division I athletes from Portland, Portland State and Oregon State.
MEET RECAPS
NWC CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 1
True to the form sheet, Pacific hurdlers set themselves up for a big day in the finals, the jumpers and throwers contributed significant scoring performances and Kelli Aken-Pagdilao (So., Makakilo, Hawaii) lowered her school record in the 100 meters to lead the Boxers in day one of the Northwest Conference Track & Field Championships, held at the Pacific Lutheran University Track.
Four men and three women all advanced out of the preliminary heats of the hurdles events, where the Boxers are expected to pick up the majority of their points on the track. Both Michael Hunker (Jr., Cornelius, Ore.) and Jenna Matsumoto (Sr., Kailua, Hawaii) qualified for the finals in both hurdles distances, with Hunker running the fastest time in the 400-meter hurdles trials.
Pacific's jumpers, meanwhile, provided some needed points in the field events. Nicole Smith (Sr., Wailuku, Hawaii) earned All-NWC honors with her third place finish in the women's long jump, tying her personal best of 17 feet. Smith later added one more team point for the women with her eighth place finish in the javelin, throwing 104 feet, 9 inches. Anna Toyas (So., Seaside, Ore.) scored one place ahead of Smith in the javelin with her mark of 105 feet, 6 inches.
Trent Dixon (Fr., North Powder, Ore.) earned All-NWC laurels in the men's high jump, placing third with a clearance of 6 feet, 2 inches. Kelson Kawai (So., North Kohala, Hawaii) was fifth in the high jump with a mark of 6 feet and Trey Oshiro-Atabay (Fr., Aiea, Hawaii) placed fifth in the men's long jump with his leap of 21 feet.
The Boxer men also picked up three points in the discus. Ryan Culp (Sr., Woodburn, Ore.), qualifying for his first NWC Championships, placed seventh with a throw of 129 feet, 6 inches.
Aaron Koford (So., Wilsonville, Ore.) repeated his eighth place finish of a year ago with a mark of 129 feet, 5 inches.
Kailee Green (Fr., Hillsboro, Ore.) added a point for the Pacific women with her eighth place finish in the steeplechase. Her Time of 12:00.86 was a 28-second personal best and is the fourth fastest performance in school history.
Aken-Pagdilao, meanwhile, continued to lower her school record in the women's 100 meters. The sophomore qualified fifth for Saturday's final with a time of 12.67 seconds.
NWC CHAMPIONSHIPS DAY 2
Michael Hunker earned a pair of top-three finishes in the men's hurdles races Saturday, leading a day full of all-conference performers and records for the Pacific track and field teams on the final day of the Northwest Conference Championships, held at the Pacific Lutheran University.
In one of the races of the day, Hunker dueled with PLU's Barrett Bollen the entire race. It came down to a sprint over the last 50 meters, with Bollen just out-leaning Hunker for the victory. Hunker ran 55.86 seconds to Bollen's 55.80. The time is a season best for Hunker by a second and moves the junior into No. 4 on Pacific's all-time list. Earlier in the day, Hunker captured third place in the men's 110-meter hurdles with a season best time of 15.51 seconds. Hunker earned All-Northwest Conference distinction in both events based on his top-three finishes.
The races led a day that saw 10 Pacific athletes earn top-eight finishes and a pair of records fall in the women's relays. The Pacific men finished sixth in the meet with a total of 50.5 points. The Pacific women finished in eighth place with 43 points.
Kelli Aken-Pagdilao and Kelson Kawai joined Hunker as all-conference performers on the meet's second day. Aken-Pagdilao finished third in the women's 100-meter final in 12.76 seconds, a day after she reset her own Pacific record in the event. Kawai placed third in the men's triple jump with a personal best leap of 44 feet, 3.25 inches. The performance moved Kawai up to No. 8 on Pacific's all-time list in the event.
Both Pacific women's relay teams posted record efforts. In the 400-meter relay, the team of Aken-Pagdilao, Kori Bellwood (So., Yamhill, Ore.), Jenna Mastumoto and Nicole Smith finished fourth with a time of 49.36 seconds. The performance was nearly a second better by the record set by the same four women of 50.33 seconds at last year's NWC Championships.
The 1,600-meter squad of Smith, Hayley Palmer (Fr., Sisters, Ore.) , Bellwood and Aken-Pagdilao closed the day by shattering the Pacific record in the event. Their time of 4:12.58 bettered the previous record of 4:13.79 set in 2005 by Erin Wilson, Erin Silverlake, Sarah Smith and Brooke Barker, by over a second.
Hunker was not alone in his work in the hurdles races, where Pacific six individuals to the finals. Daniel Wagner (Fr., Kailua, Hawaii) finished seventh in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.24 seconds while Ted Wogan (Fr., Klamath Falls, Ore.) finished seventh in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 58.73 seconds.
Matsumoto, meanwhile, placed in both women's hurdles races in her final conference meet. She finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 1:07.63 and finished eighth in the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 16.36 seconds. Matsumoto led three Pacific finishers in the 400-meter event with Bellwood placing sixth in 1:09.23 and Jessica Head (So., North Bend, Ore.) placing seventh in 1:09.44.
Chloe Hallyburton (Jr., Dayton, Ore.) placed fourth in the women's high jump. Her lifetime best leap of 5 feet, 1 inch ranks No. 3 on Pacific's all-time list. Sean Valente (Fr., Eva Beach, Hawaii) placed sixth in the men's 400 meters with a season best time of 50.80 seconds.
HUNKER COMES THROUGH WITH PAIR OF STRONG EFFORTS: Michael Hunker saved his best performances for the NWC Championships with a pair of All-NWC races in the two hurdles disciplines. Hunker engaged in an epic battle in the 400-meter hurdles with Pacific Lutheran's Barrett Bollen that came down to the final 50 meters. In the end, Bollen outleaned Hunker at the tape to win in 55.80 seconds. Hunker was second in 55.86 seconds, a performance that ranks No. 5 on Pacific's all-time list. Earlier in the day, Hunker ran his way to a third place finish in the 110-meter hurdles with a season best time of 15.51 seconds.
Hunker led three Pacific men's placers in the hurdles. Daniel Wagner finished seventh in the 110-meter event with a time of 16.24 seconds. Ted Wogan placed seven in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 58.73 seconds.
LOWERING THAT CENTURY RECORD: Kelli Aken-Pagdilao continues to drop her 100-meter record further and further. In Friday's NWC Championships preliminary round, the sophomore lowered her record for the third time this season as she clocked a time of 12.67 seconds. She went on to earn All-NWC honors in the finals with a time of 12.76 seconds. Aken-Pagdilao also qualified for the 200 meters, but just missed the finals as she placed ninth in the preliminary heats with a time of 26.60 seconds. Aken-Pagdilao owns a season best time in the 200 of 26.13 seconds, which is the second fastest mark in school history.
WOMEN'S RELAY RECORDS FALL: The women's 100-meter record was not the only one to fall at the NWC Championships as both women's relays marks fell. The 400-meter relay team of Kelli Aken-Pagdilao, Kori Bellwood, Jenna Matsumoto and Nicole Smith finished fourth with a time of 49.36 seconds. That time was nearly a second ahead of the 50.33 seconds that the same four ran at last year's Pacific Twilight meet. The women's 1,600-meter relay team of Smith, Hayley Palmer, Bellwood and Aken-Pagdilao ran a five-second season best to finish sixth in a time of 4:12.56. That eclipsed a five-year-old record of 4:13.79 set by Erin Wilson, Erin Silverake, Sarah Smith and Brooke Barker back in 2005. The 2012 season has been a very good one for the women's relays. Teams from this season now own four of the top-10 400-meter relay times and four of the top-10 1,600-meter relay times.
LEAPING TO ALL-NWC HONORS: A pair of Pacific jumpers leaped their way to All-NWC honors and earned the Boxers some key NWC meet points in the process. Kelson Kawai rebounded from a disappointing performance in the high jump on Friday to pull off a lifetime best in the men's triple jump on Saturday. His leap of 44 feet, 3.25 inches was good enough for third place and ranks as the No. 8 performance on the Pacific all-time list in the event. Trent Dixon earned himself All-NWC honors in the high jump as a freshman as he cleared 6 feet, 2 inches to finish third in the event. The effort was a season best for the Boxers' two-sport athlet.
A LAST CONFERENCE MEET WELL RUN: While Jenna Matsumoto would certainly have liked to be among the top-three in the hurdles races, she certainly had a good showing in her final NWC meet. Matsumoto finished fourth in the 400-meter hurdles, running 1:07.63 to lead three Pacific placers in the event. Matsumoto also came with a seventh place finish in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 16.36. Matsumoto had a lot of company in the 400-meter event. Kori Bellwood finished sixth with a time of 1:09.23 while Jessica Head was seventh in a time of 1:09.44.
FIRST TIME, LAST TIME: In one of the last qualifying meets of the season, Ryan Culp (Sr., Woodburn, Ore.) was able to finally qualifying for his first NWC Championships as a senior. He made the most of his opportunity by scoring points for his team in the discus. Culp finished seventh with a throw of 129 feet, 6 inches, finishing an inch ahead of eighth place teammate
Aaron Koford. The seventh place finish capped off a four-year with the Boxers where Culp competed in the shot put, discus and hammer.
EXCELLING IN A NEW EVENT: For the first four years of her Pacific career, Nicole Smith's strength was in the 100 meters and 200 meters. This year, Smith found herself earning All-NWC honors in an event that was among those sprints. Smith finished third at the NWC Championships in the long jump, matching her season best with a mark of 17 feet. The performance capped a weekend that saw Smith compete in the long jump, 200 meters and the javelin. Earning a fifth year of eligibility after being granted a retroactive medical hardship, Smith used the season to develop into a multi-event specialist. In addition to her points in the long jump, Smith placed eighth in the javelin with a mark of 104 feet, 9 inches and finished seventh in NWC heptathlon with 3,673 points.
QUALIFYING STANDARDS CHANGE: For the first time this season, there will not an “A” and “B” qualifying standard for the NCAA Division III Championships. In 2012, the top-20 declared men's athletes and the top-22 declared women's athletes, in addition to the top-16 declared relay teams, will earn entry into the meet. Qualifiers to the NWC Championships will still need to meet a pre-established qualifying standard.
