Shipley Blazes His Way To NWC Weekly Track Honors
FOREST GROVE –
Tyler Shipley's (So., Forest Grove, Ore.) record performance in men's 10,000 meters last Friday has earned the sophomore selection as the Northwest Conference Men's Track Student-Athlete of the Week. The award, as selected by the conference's sports information directors, was announced on Monday.
Shipley shattered his own school record in the event with his 11th place finish at the San Francisco State Distance Carnival on Friday. The top Division III finisher in a field laden with Division I and Division II talent, Shipley crossed the finish line in a time of 30:24.44.
The performance was a 42-second improvement over his previous season best, a 31:06.59 ran at the Linfield Erik Anderson Memorial Icebreaker on Feb. 28. That effort broke the long-standing school record of 31:21.2, set by Russ Rodriguez in 1978, and also earned Shipley distinction as NWC Men's Track Student-Athlete of the Week.
The time was also the best in country in NCAA Division III for about 12 hours before it was surpassed by five other athletes, topped by an impressive 28:52.73 by North Central's John Crain at the Stanford Invitational. Shipley comes into the week with the sixth best time in the nation.
"It was an excellent race by Tyler and the fastest 10,000 meters in the NWC in 15 years," said Pacific Head Coach Tim Boyce. "He has significant goals for the future and this results shows that he is on the right path to achieve them."
The NWC Championships Men's Track Athlete of the Meet in 2013 after winning both the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters as a freshman, Shipley is lining up to have a year that could land him at the NCAA Division III Championships. His time on Friday was a 1 minute, 34 second improvement over his season best last year.
Shipley and the rest of the Pacific track and field team looks ahead to their first home meet of the 2014 season, hosting the Pacific Luau Meet on Saturday at Lincoln Park.
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