Pacific University Athletics

Boxers Continue To Build In Ericksen's First Season

6/3/2015 11:10:00 AM

Track & Field 2015 Season Review

By Blake Timm '98, Sports Information Director

KING OF JUMPS: It was clear coming into the season that Budweiser Hawkins would be a potential point scorer and Northwest Conference champion in the jumps.  What no one expected, however, was how well everything would turn out.
 
After finishing second in each of his first two NWC Championships in the long jump, Hawkins left no doubt that would win it in his senior season.  His mark of 23 feet, 3.25 inches on his final jump won the conference crown by just over a foot.  Next came the high jump, another event where Hawkins had come up just short in past conference meets.  This time, the competition came down to a jump off with Hawkins claiming his second title as he cleared 6 feet 7.5 inches for the win.
 
The next day, Hawkins claimed the trifecta.  After only having competed in the triple jump once in his entire track and field career two weeks earlier, Hawkins won the event with a mark of 47 feet, 3.75 inches, the second best mark in school history.  In the process, Hawkins became the first athlete in conference history to win all three jumps in the same championship meet.
 
The three titles earned Hawkins selection by the league's coaches as the NWC Championships Men's Field Athlete of the Meet.  In addition to the three titles, Hawkins went on to place fifth in the 100 meters and ran the anchor leg on the Boxers' second place 400-meter relay team.  He accounted for 43 of the Boxers' 93 team points in the meet.
 
For all of his efforts on the track this year, Hawkins was selected by Pacific coaches as the university's Male Outstanding Senior Athlete.
 
Hawkins ensured that he won't be forgotten, and not only with his unusual name.  His mark of 47 feet, 3.75 inches in the triple jump was not only second best in school history, but No. 22 this season in Division III.  His effort of 6 feet, 7.5 inches is fifth best in school history (behind four tied at the school record 6 feet, 8 inches) and was tied for 36th in Division III.  Hawkins' mark of 23 feet, 3.25 inches in the long jump is third best in school history and 28th in Division III.  During the indoor season, Hawkins set school records in the high jump (6 feet, 6.75 inches) and long jump (22 feet, 4.5 inches) and ran the school's sixth fastest time in the 60 meters.
 

ON TO NATIONALS: In her first year in a Pacific uniform, Emily Sproul advanced further than them all as she was the only Pacific athlete to earn an invitation to the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships.
 
Sproul qualified on the basis of an impressive series of throws during the Pacific Twilight on May 2.  The furthest throw went 136 feet, 9 inches, which was not only a 10-foot personal best, but was also the third best performance in school history behind All-Americans DeeDee Arnall and Brooke Barker.  The mark then stood as the 22nd best mark in Division III, earning her the trip to nationals at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.
 
Sproul went on to finish 21st in her first nationals experience, throwing 124 feet, 10 inches.  She also finished her freshman season with the school's 10th best mark all-time in the hammer at 102 feet, 3 inches.
 

RECORD EFFORT…AND MORE: Midway through her junior season, Britta LaVoie eclipsed the Pacific women's pole vault record she had been working hard to gain.  The junior picked up her record at the George Fox Rich Allen Classic on Mar. 28 with her clearance of 11 feet, 6.25 inches.  LaVoie wasn't content, however, extending the record two more times.  She cleared 11 feet, 8 inches in a pair of late meets, the  May 2 Pacific Twilight and the May 9 Linfield Open.  She closed the year with her best effort, clearing 11 feet. 8.5 inches at the George Fox Last Qualifier on May 14.
 
LaVoie not only earned her school record, but finished the year with the 36th best mark in Division III.  She also closed the indoor season with the school record, clearing 10 feet, 6.5 inches.  LaVoie graduated from Pacific in three years, but could still come back for her senior season of eligibility as she has enrolled in Pacific University's College of Education.

 

EXTENDING HIS RECORD: Jesse Bethke closed his Pacific career by putting together lifetime bests in all three of his throwing events and extending his own record in one.  The Cave Junction, Ore., native broke his own record at the Linfield Jenn Boyman Invitational on Apr. 4 with a mark of 150 feet, 11 inches.  He went on to reset the mark the next weekend with a lifetime best of 157 feet, 1 inch, at the Pacific Luau Invitational on Apr. 11.  The record mark came almost exactly a year after Bethke attained the record as a junior.  Bethke went on to earn All-NWC honors for the first time in his career, placing third at the NWC Championships.  The mark also finished 32nd in Division III in the event.
 
Bethke also closed out his career with Pacific indoor records in the shot put (44 feet, 3.5 inches) and the weight throw (50 feet. 8.75 inches).   He also scored lifetime outdoor bests in the shot put (45 feet. 0.5 inches) and the hammer (158 feet, 9 inches), which ranks second best in school history.
 
HIGH FLYIN' HAMMOND: In her first year of college competition in her hometown, Shannon Hammond put herself in the Pacific record books.  The Forest Grove native set the school record in women's high jump at the Pacific Twilight on May 2.  Her clearance of 5 feet, 3.25 inches was just better than the 5 feet, 3 inches set by Academic All-American Chloe Hallyburton in 2013.
 
Hammond also finished the season with the school's second best mark in the triple jump, jumping 36 feet, 7 inches, at the Lewis & Clark Open on Apr. 17.  She also gave her first try to the heptathlon and performed well for a freshman.  Her total of 3,596 points at the NWC Multi-Event Championships is the fourth best total in school history.
 

SPEED AGENTS: For the first time since Jimmy Carter was president, the Pacific men finished with new top-10 marks established in all three sprints.  Sophomore Kris Sapp continued to impress.  He tied for the sixth best mark in school history on his home track, running 10.91 seconds at the Pacific Luau Invitational on Apr. 11.  Sapp went on to place second in the event at the NWC Championships, earning All-NWC honors.  Sapp also ran the ninth fastest time in school history at the Pacific Twilight on May 2, clocking 22.15 seconds.  He also earned NWC meet points in the 200 meters, placing sixth.
 
Trey Oshiro-Atabay and Sean Higinbotham both earned top-10 performances in the 400 meters.  Oshiro-Atabay clocked 49.75 seconds at the NWC Championships, fifth fastest in school history, placing third to earn All-NWC honors.  Higinbotham clocked 50.34 seconds at the Pacific Twilight, the ninth fastest time in school history.
 
Pacific's women's sprinters were also blazing their way to top-10 times.  Two newcomers, Marlee Chovich and Mikaela Bernards, tied for the second best mark in school history in the 100 meters as both ran 12.82 seconds at the Linfield Open on May 9.  Dawne Yamamoto ran the sixth best time in school history with 13.11 seconds at the Pacific Luau Invitational.  Bernards clocked 26.53 in the 200 meters at the Pacific Luau Invitational, finishing at No. 3 on the Pacific list.  Hayley Palmer ran the eighth best time at 27.10 seconds while Chovich moved into No. 9 with her time of 27.34 seconds.  And for good measure, Bernards added the school's third fastest time in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.94 seconds at the NWC Championships.
 
RELAY REDUX: Sean Higinbotham, Kris Sapp, Trey Oshiro-Atabay and Budweiser Hawkins went someplace that no Pacific athletes had gone in 36 years: Onto the men's 400-meter relay top-10 list.
 
The quartet made some history for the Boxers at the NWC Championships, finishing second with a time of 41.99 seconds.  The time is the fastest by a Pacific 400-meter relay team in the meters era and is surpassed on the record board only by a converted time of 41.80 seconds set in 1976.  The same four went on to run 42.14 seconds at the Pacific Twilight the next week, the sixth best mark in school history.
 
Pacific's women's relays, meanwhile, continued to put up solid performances.  The 400-meter tandem of Marlee Chovich, Miakela Bernards, Dawne Yamamoto and Hayley Palmer clocked a time of 49.74 seconds at the Pacific Twilight the third fastest time in school history.  In all, two different configurations clocked three top-10 times.  Palmer, Yamamoto, Chovich and Bernards also put together the second fastest 1,600-meter time in school history, running 4:09.16 at the Pacific Twilight.  The four ran three times that rank in the Pacific top-10.
 

NO BARRIERS FOR THESE HURDLERS: Pacific saw the end of a stellar career for one hurdler on the men's side and the start of a pair of solid careers on the women's side.  Daniel Wagner closed his Pacific career as one of the top high hurdlers in school history.  He placed fourth at this year's NWC Championships in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.62 seconds.  Wagner ran 15.34 seconds in the preliminaries and notched a season best of 15.32 seconds at the Pacific Luau Invitational.  Wagner was also the Boxers' lone competitor in the 400-meter hurdles, clocking a season best 56.35 seconds at the Apr. 18 Lewis & Clark Invitational.
 
Mikaela Bernards and Shannon Hammond made a splash in the women's high hurdles.  Bernards placed seventh in the 100-meter hurdles at the NWC Championships.  Her time in the preliminaries of 15.94 seconds is third fastest in school history.  Shannon Hammond finished with a best of 16.92 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles at the Linfield Open on May 9.  Kelsey Lee had a solid season going in both hurdles events before her season ended early with injury.  Lee's time of 1:05.63 in the 400-meter hurdles is third fastest in Pacific history and her time of 17.14 seconds in the 100-meters is ninth fastest.
 
SEASON SUMMARY
Men's NWC Championships Finish: 4th (93 pts.)
Women's NWC Championships Finish: 8th (20 pts.)
 
SEASON HONORS
NWC Championships Men's Field Athlete of the Meet: Budweiser Hawkins
All-Northwest Conference (Top-3 Finish At NWC Championships): Jesse Bethke (Men's Discus), Budweiser Hawkins (Men's High Jump, Men's Long Jump, Men's Triple Jump, Men's 400-Meter Relay), Sean Higinbotham (Men's 400-Meter Relay), Trey Oshiro-Atabay (Men's 400 Meters, Men's 400-Meter Relay), Kris Sapp (Men's 100 Meters, Men's 400-Meter Relay).
 
OUTDOOR RECORDS BROKEN IN 2015
Men's Discus: Jesse Bethke, 157-1 (Previous: 150-5, Bethke, 2014)
Women's High Jump: Shannon Hammond, 5-3.25 (Previous: 5-3, Chloe Hallyburton, 2013)
Women's Pole Vault: Britta LaVoie, 11-8.5 (Previous: Kasey Fisher, 11-1.75, 2010)