Pacific University Athletics

Track & Field Weekly Notebook

4/18/2013 3:02:00 PM

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THIS WEEK IN PACIFIC TRACK & FIELD
LEWIS & CLARK PIONEER INVITATIONAL
Fri., Apr. 19, 3 p.m. (Hammer/Javelin only, at George Fox)
Sat., Apr. 20, 11 a.m.
Griswold Stadium, Portland, Ore.

LAST CHANCE FOR NWC MEET QUALIFIERS IN THIS WEEKEND
After a tremendous weekend that saw 13 event winners and 14 team season bests for the homestanding Pacific track and field teams at the Pacific Luau Meet, the Boxers look to this weekend and their last chance to qualify athletes for the Northwest Conference Championships.  The Boxers will stay close to home, competing at the Lewis & Clark Pioneer Invitational in Portland.

BOXER BYTES
• Pacific finished their own Pacific Luau Meet with 13 individual placewinners, which included winning performances for all four relays.  The Pacific men won the team scoring out of five competing teams, while the women placed third.

• The Pacific women's 1,600-meter relay team of Sarah Tuffey, Emily Tuffey, Alexis Damo and Kelli Aken-Pagdilao ran the second fastest time in school history to win at the Luau Meet in 4:13.49.

• Daniel Wagner won both men's hurdles events, capturing the 110-meter hurdles in 15.86 seconds and the 400-meter hurdles in 57.93 seconds.  Both times were just short of his season bests.

• Mackenzie Huddleston won the women's high jump with a clearance of 5 feet, 1 inches.  The performance ties her for seventh best in the NWC this season and ties her with teammate Chloe Hallyburton for No. 3 on the Boxers' all-time list.

• Britta LaVoie finished the Luau meet with a nearly two-foot collegiate best in the women's pole vault, clearing 10 feet, 3.5 inches to finish fourth.  The mark is the second best in school behind the record-holding mark of 11 feet. 1.75 inches of Kasey Fisher.

• The sister act of Emily Tuffey and Sarah Tuffey both ran collegiate bests and Pacific Top 10 times in the 200 meters and 400 meters at Saturday's Luau Meet.  Emily ran 27.39 seconds in the 200 meters while Sarah ran fourth for the No. 6 and No.7 times all time for the Boxers.  In the 400, Sarah ran 1:02.35 and Emily rank 1:02.84 for the No. 7 and No. 9.

• Aaron Koford and Ted Wogan earned Pacific's first team points for the NWC Championships at the NWC Multi Event Championships on Tuesday,  Koford placed sixth in the decathlon with 5,570 points while Wogan placed eighth with a lifetime best of 5,477 points.

• Pacific enters this weekend with a total of 37 athletes qualified for the NWC Championships in 29 different events.  Ted Wogan leads the Pacific men with qualifying marks in four events, including the decathlon.  Rachel Schrieber leads the Pacific women with three qualifying marks.

LAST MEET'S MEET RECAPS
PACIFIC LUAU MEET
Pacific impressed the home crowd in their first home meet of the 2013 season with an explosive all-around performance Saturday as the Boxers won 13 different events to lead the way at the Pacific Luau Meet at Lincoln Park Stadium.
 
The Pacific men won nine events, including both relays, to run away with the team title with a total of 189.5 points.  The Boxer women won four events and also won both relays as they finished third of five teams with a total of 121 points.
 
The relays set the table for the Boxers' impressive day.  The women's 400-meter team of Kelli Aken-Pagdilao (So., Makakilo, Hawaii), Emily Tuffey (So., Valencia, Calif.), Sarah Tuffey (Jr., Valencia, Calif.) and Alexis Damo (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) opened with a winning time of 50.55 seconds while the men's relay of Craig Bailey (So., Fairfield, Calif.), Sean Valente (Jr., Ewa Beach, Hawaii), Matthew Dodier (So., Portland, Ore.) and Michael Zane (So., Honolulu, Hawaii) won with a season best of 43.07 seconds.
 
Pacific's women's 1,600-meter relay team, comprised of the same four women as the short relay, won with a season best time of 4:13.19 that ranks as the second best time in school history.  The men's long relay quartet of Spencer Wilson (So., La Pine, Ore.), Trey Oshiro-Atabay (So., Aiea, Hawaii), Stefan Lemak (Fr., Los Altos, Calif.) and Valente added a victory with a time of 3:28.52.
 
Zane added to the men's sprint successes by winning the 200 meters in a wind aided 22.33 seconds.  It is the fastest 200-meter time run by a Pacific athlete since 1983 and would have ranked No. 9 on Pacific's all-time list had the wind been legal.  Wagner won the 110-meter hurdles in 15.86 seconds, finishing literally thousandths of a second ahead of teammate Michael Hunker (Sr., Cornelius, Ore.), who was credited also with 15.86 seconds.  Wagner also won the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 57.93 seconds.  Dodier finished second in the 100 meters in a Northwest Conference Championships qualifying time of 11.42 seconds.
 
Sarah Tuffey led the women's sprinters individual efforts with her season best time of 1:02.35 in the 400 meters, placing second.  Aken-Pagdilao placed second in the 200 meters with a time of 26.44 seconds and was third in the 100 meters in 12.86 seconds.  Cyan Agena (So., Kapolei, Hawaii) finished third in the 100-meter hurdles in 17.67 seconds and Dannika Sullivan (Fr., Portland, Ore.) was third in the women's 400-meter hurdles in 1:10.66.
 
Tyler Shipley (Fr., Forest Grove, Ore.) was given little challenge in his first home track race as a Boxer, cruising to victory in the men's 5,000 meters in a time of 15:11.70.  Rachel Schreiber (So., Longmont, Colo.) placed third in the women's 1,500 meters, finishing just short of her season best in a time of 4:51.07.
 
Mackenzie Huddleston (Fr., Milwaukie, Ore.) led three Pacific winners in the jumps, winning the women's long jump with a clearance of 5 feet, 1 inch, that ties her for No. 3 in school history.  Chloe Hallyburton (Sr., Dayton, Ore.) tied for third with a clearance of 4 feet, 9 inches.  Kelson Kawai (Jr., North Kohala, Hawaii) won the men's high jump at 6 feet, 5 inches, bettering the same mark of Budweiser Hawkins (So., Las Vegas, Nev.) based on previous misses.
 
Hawkins was a winner in the men's long jump, tying his season best at 21 feet, 11 inches.  Oshiro-Atabay was second with a leap of 21 feet, 6 inches.  McKenna Davidson (Fr., Kailua, Hawaii) was second in the women's long jump with a season best of 15 feet, 7 inches.
 
Britta LaVoie (Fr., Spokane, Wash.) put together a 20-inch season best in the pole vault, placing fourth with her vault of 10 feet, 3 inches.  The performance ranks LaVoie No. 2 on Pacific's all-time list.
 
In the throws, Anna Toyas (Jr., Seaside, Ore.) won the women's javelin with a personal best of 122 feet, 4 inches.  Jesse Bethke (So., Cave Junction, Ore.) led four top-five placers in the men's discus, placing second with a throw of 132 feet, 3 inches.  Tim Claussen (Fr., Yamhill, Ore.) was third with a season best of 130 feet, 8 inches.  Taylor Hickson (So., Red Bluff, Calif.) added a second place finish in the men's javelin with a throw of 163 feet, 3 inches.

NWC MULTI-EVENT CHAMPIONSHIPS
Aaron Koford (Jr., Wilsonville, Ore.) finished in sixth place in the decathlon and Ted Wogan (So., Klamath Falls, Ore.) placed eighth Tuesday, giving Pacific four team points towards the upcoming Northwest Conference Championships in the NWC Multi-Event Championship at the Pacific Lutheran University track.
 
Koford compiled a score of 5,629 points to place sixth in the eight-man competition in the decathlon.  Wogan established a new personal best with his eighth place point total of 5,477 points.  The performance was a 40-point improvement over his total at March's Boxer Combined Event meet.
 
Koford topped his day with a second place performance in the discus, throwing 120 feet, 5 inches.  He opened the day with a sixth place finish in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.79 seconds and placed eighth in the pole vault with a clearance of 10 feet, 4 inches.  He finished the day with a pair of seven place finishes in the javelin, throwing 133 feet, 7 inches, and in the 1,500 meters with a time of 5:06.11.
 
Wogan opened the day with a third place finish in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.45 seconds.  After a sixth place performance in the discus with a throw of 96 feet, 5 inches, Wogan tied for third in the pole vault with a clearance of 12 feet, 3.5 inches.  He placed eighth in the javelin with a throw of 127 feet, 1 inch before closing with a third place finish in the 1,500 meters, running 4:52.25.

Koford's best performance on the first day came in the shot put, tying for second place with Whitworth's Peter Delap with an effort of 34 feet, 10.25 inches.  He opened the day with a fifth place finish in the 100 meters in 11.72 seconds and then placed fourth in the long jump with an effort of 19 feet, 9 inches.  Koford then tied for seventh in the fourth event, the high jump, at 5 feet, 1.75 inches and finished sixth in the 400 meters in 52.74 seconds.
 
Wogan's best first day performance also came in the shot put where he placed fifth with an effort of 33 feet, 2.5 inches.  Wogan was tied for sixth in the 100 meters in the 100 meters in 11.90 seconds and eighth in the long jump at 17 feet, 11 inches.  He tied for seventh in the high jump with Koford at 5 feet, 1.75 inches and was seventh in the 400 meters in 52.93 seconds.
 
Joe Cerne of Puget Sound charged ahead in the second day to win the decathlon with a score of 6,321 points, winning the final three events of the competition.  Willamette's Carson Kennedy placed second with 6,190 points.  The first day leader, Whitworth's Peter Delap, placed third with 5,949 points.

PACIFIC NEWS & NOTES
RELAY MAGIC FOR THE PACIFIC WOMEN: The Pacific women's sprint corps have come together well this season, and it has shown in the relays.  The Boxer women won both relays at Saturday's Pacific Luau Meet.  The 400-meter relay team of Kelli Aken-Pagdilao, Emily Tuffey, Sarah Tuffey and Alexis Damo just edged out George Fox's relay team for the win with a season best time of 50.55 seconds.  The four came together again, albeit in different order, to post a three-second win in the 1,600-meter relay team with a time of 4:13.49.  The performance in the long relay is the second fastest in school history, trailing only the performance of 4:12.58 run by Nicole Smith, Hayley Palmer (So., Sisters, Ore.), Kori Bellwood and Aken-Pagdilao at last year's NWC Championships.   The 400-meter relay enters the week with the fourth best time in the NWC while the 1,600-meter relay is sixth.

ONE FAST SISTER ACT: Pacific sprinting sister act of Emily Tuffey and Sarah Tuffey not only added another potential appearance together at the NWC Championships, but dual appearances in the Pacific record books.  Emily Tuffey qualified for the NWC Championships in the 200 meters with her time of 27.39 seconds at the Pacific Luau Meet.  Sarah Tuffey finished just behind in 27.42 seconds, just missing the NWC Championships qualifying mark by .02 seconds.  The two times rank the sisters No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, on Pacific's All-Time List.  In the 400 meters, the Tuffeys also ran season bests with Sarah running 1:02.35 and Emily running 1:02.84.  Both improved already existing NWC Championships qualifying times and are No. 7 and No. 9 on the Pacific All-Time List for the distance.  In addition to their work in the individual events, both Tuffeys have played key roles on Pacific's women's relay teams (see above).

VAULTING TOWARDS A RECORD: It will not be long until Britta LaVoie (Fr., Spokane, Wash.) finds herself vaulting for a Pacific record.  The freshman put together an impressive season best in the women's pole vault at the Pacific Luau Meet, improving by nearly two feet with her foruth place vault of 10 feet, 3.5 inches.  The performance ranks LaVoie No. 2 in school history in the event behind the record of 11 feet, 1.75 inches set by Kasey Fisher in 2011.  LaVoie leads a list of three freshmen who have given the Boxers some depth in the event.  Shina Chung (Fr., Hilo, Hawaii) has cleared 8 feet. 10.75 inches this season, ranking her fourth on the all-time list.  Katie Johnson (So., Portland, Ore.) has cleared 8 feet, 3.25 inches to rank No. 6 on the list.  All three women have qualified for the NWC Championships.

DOUBLE WINNER IN THE HURDLES: Daniel Wagner (So., Kailua, Hawaii) was a double winner in the hurdles races at the Pacific Luau Meet, setting himself up to be a contender in both events at the NWC Championships.  Wagner outdistanced teammate Michael Hunker (Sr., Cornelius, Ore.) by a hair in the 110-meter hurdles, winning in a time of 15.86 seconds in a finish that was determined by thousandths of a second on the photo finish computer.  Wagner had more of a cushion in the 400-meter hurdles, winning in 57.93 seconds.  That was two seconds better than the second place 59.80 seconds of teammate Nate Farrell (Fr., Warrenton, Ore.).  Wagner enters the week with the Boxers' top time in the 400-meter hurdles and the fourth best mark in the NWC at 56.45 seconds.  He also has the second best time for the Boxers and sixth best in the NWC in the 110-meter hurdles of 15.76 seconds.  Wagner leads a corps of five qualifers for Pacific in the hurdles, four of whom have qualified in both distances.

AIM HIGH: Mackenzie Huddleston (Fr., Milwaukie, Ore.) is edging herself closer and closer to a shot at the Pacific record in the women's high jump.  The freshman won the event at the Pacific Luau Meet, clearing a season best 5 feet, 1 inch.  The performance ties Huddleston for the No. 3 spot on Pacific's all-time list with teammate Chloe Hallyburton (Sr., Dayton, Ore.) and is not far from the record mark of 5 feet, 2.5 inches set by heptathlon All-American Brooke Barker in 2005.  Huddleston will have a chance to score some points for the Boxers at the NWC Championships.  In addition to the high jump, Huddleston has also qualified in the javelin with a season best of 114 feet, 10 inches.

THROW LONG: Anna Toyas (Jr., Seaside, Ore.) found herself throwing an exciting season best in the women's javelin at the Pacific Luau Meet.  Toyas won the event with a throw of 122 feet, 4 inches, winning by 10 feet over teammate Mackenzie Huddleston.  The performance was about 12 feet better than her previous best of 110 feet, 4 inches, which Toyas threw the previous week at the Linfield Jenn Boyman Invitational.  The mark ranks Toyas No. 3 on Pacific's All-Time List in the list, sitting behind former Pacific All-Americans DeeDee Arnall and Brooke Barker.  Toyas enters the week with the seventh best mark this season in the NWC, leaving her well in contention for a scoring spot at the NWC Championships.

FIRST NWC MEET POINTS COME IN DECATHLON: Pacific earned their first points for next weekend's NWC Championships with their performances at the the NWC Multi-Event Championships on Monday and Tuesday in Tacoma.  Aaron Koford placed sixth with a total of 5,570 points while Ted Wogan finished eighth with a personal best performance of 5,477 points.  Koford's best individual performances came in a second place finish in the shot put at 34 feet, 10.25 inches, and a second place finish in the discus with a mark of 120 feet, 5 inches.  Wogan's top finish came in the pole vault, where he tied for third with a clearance of 12 feet, 3.5 inches.  The four points earned by two athletes will carry over to the NWC Championships.

A RECORD EFFORT FOR KAWAI: The Pacific coaching staff has always known that Kelson Kawai was capable of a school record effort in the men's high jump, having jumped over the 6 feet, 8 inch height in high school.  The junior finally put his name on the Pacific record board at the Mar. 31 Peyton Scoring Meet, finishing second with a clearance of 6 feet, 8 inches.  In doing so, Kawai tied the record set by Mike Gordon in 1976 and equaled by Kelly LcClaire in 1993 and Carson Bartlett in 2008.  In addition, Kawai's mark ranks as the No. 12 best mark among NCAA Division III athletes this season.  The national leader is Carl Joseph of UMass Boston, who has cleared 7 feet, 1 inch.

CLOSING ON A RECORD AS A FRESHMAN: A phenomenal freshman cross country and track and field season for Tyler Shipley (Fr., Forest Grove, Ore.) continues to get better as he continues to move higher on the Boxers' all-time lists.  Shipley's latest impressive performance came at the Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open where he won his first ever track 5,000 meter race in a conference-best time 15:00.47.  The time ranks as the second best time in school history.  Only Roger Hansen has run faster for the Boxers, running a blistering 14:36.8 back in 1976.  The effort earned Shipley selection as the NWC Men's Track Student-Athlete of the Week.  A qualifier for the NWC Championships in both the 5,000 meters and the 10,000 meters, Shipley owns the league's second best mark in the 10,000 with his 32:25.22 run at the Linfield Erik Anderson Memorial Icebreaker back of Mar. 1.  Shipley, a Forest Grove native and Forest Grove High School graduate, opened his college career by earning Second Team All-NWC and All-West Region honors in cross country and earning an invitation to the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships.

LINCOLN PARK TO HOST BIG SKY CHAMPIONSHIPS: Affirming the facility's reputation as a high-caliber venue for track and field, Pacific University's Lincoln Park Stadium will host the 2013 Big Sky Conference Track and Field Championships.  The meet will take place May 8-11.  Portland State will be the host school for the meet.  The Vikings do not have a track to call their own and evaluated a number of Portland-area venues before settling on Forest Grove and Lincoln Park.  The meet was announced in Ken Goe's track and field notebook in Tuesday's edition of The Oregonian.  The article can be read at bit.ly/ZxQ6SZ.

QUALIFYING STANDARDS: For the second straight season, there will not an “A” and “B” qualifying standard for the NCAA Division III Championships.  In 2013, 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.