Bethke, George Break School Records At Pacific Luau Meet
Box ScoreFOREST GROVE – Jesse Bethke (Sr., Cave Junction, Ore.) broke Pacific's long-standing record in the men's discus and Travis George (Sr., Grants Pass, Ore.) broke his own record in the men's hammer Saturday, leading a great day for the Boxers' track and field teams at the Pacific Luau Meet, held at Lincoln Park Stadium.
Bethke threw a personal best by eight feet to win the event. His mark 150 feet, 5 inches surpassed the former record of 149 feet, 9 inches, set by Jay Child in 1977. The mark leads the Northwest Conference and ranks among the top-25 marks in Division III.
George put together a seven-foot personal best in the men's hammer, placing second with his mark of 167 feet, 2 inches. It bettered the record he set last year at 160 feet, 6.75 inches at the 2013 NWC Championship.
The performance led six individual event winners for the Boxers in their first full home meet of the 2014 season.
Daniel Wagner (Jr., Kailua, Hawaii) won both men's hurdle disciplines, capturing the 110-meter hurdles in a season best 15.79 seconds and the 400-meter hurdles in 58.28 seconds. Kelson Kawai (Sr., North Kohala, Hawaii) won the men's high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 2.75 inches and also placed second in the triple jump at 42 feet. 4.25 inches.
Taylor Hickson (Jr., Red Bluff, Calif.) took the men's javelin with a mark of 176 feet, 3 inches. Mackenzie Huddleston (So., Milwaukie, Ore.) was Pacific's lone women's event winner, claiming the javelin with a throw of 121 feet, 3 inches. Huddleston also placed second in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 1.25 inches.
Alexis Damo (So., Honolulu, Hawaii) moved up to No. 3 on Pacific's all-time list in the women's 400 meters, placing second with a time of 1:00.05. Sara Davidson (So., St. Paul, Ore.) moved into sixth on the women's discus list, placing third with a mark of 116 feet, 9 inches.
Kelsey Lee (So., Monroe, Wash.) improved her No. 5 time on the women's 400-meter hurdles list, placing third in 1:07.63. Lisa Martin (So., Gresham, Ore.) improved her No. 7 time on the women's 5,000-meter list with her third place time of 18:48.32 and McKenna Davidson (So., Kailua-Kona, Hawaii) improved her No. 4 mark in the women's long jump with her leap of 16 feet, 8 inches.
Trey Oshiro-Atabay (Jr., Aiea, Hawaii) moved into No. 8 all-time in the men's 400 meters with a second place time of 50.16 seconds, becoming just the second athlete since 1981 to break onto that list. He went on to place third in the long jump with a mark of 20 feet, 11.25 inches.
The women's 400-meter relay team of Mariah Ariola (Jr., Honolulu, Hawaii), Damo, Emily Tuffey (Jr., Valencia, Calif.) and Kelli Aken-Pagdilao (Sr., Makawao, Hawaii) ran the third fastest time in school history, placing second in 49.89 seconds.
Other runner up finishes for the Boxers included Ben Thomas (Fr., Tualatin, Ore.) in the men's steeplechase (10:32.41), Tyler Shipley (So., Forest Grove, Ore.) in the 1,500 meters (4:06.96), Tim Claussen (So., Yamhill, Ore.) in the men's discus (127-6), Kris Sapp (Fr., Sacramento, Calif.) in the men's 100 meters (11.40), Budweiser Hawkins (Jr., Las Vegas, Nev.) in the long jump (21-7.25) and Michael Teves (Fr., Makawao, Hawaii) in the pole vault (13-6.5).
Adding third place finishes were Aken-Pagdilao in the women's 100 meters (12.76), Haley Nevins (So., Fair Oaks, Calif.) in the women's 800 meters (2:22.75), Anna Toyas (Sr., Seaside, Ore.) in the women's javelin (104-3), Britta LaVoie (So., Spokane, Wash.) in the women's pole vault (9-5.75) and Jeremy Parkinson (So., Hubbard, Ore.) in the men's triple jump (42-0.75).
Pacific won the team competition in the meet with 174 points. Linfield placed second with 142 points. The Pacific women placed fourth with 115 points. Linfield took home top honors in the women's competition with a total of 169 points.
Pacific will be represented at two meets over the next week. The Boxers' multi-event specialists will compete at the NWC Multi-Event Championships on Monday and Tuesday in Salem. The entire team will compete on Friday and Saturday in the Lewis & Clark Pioneer Open in Portland.
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