Three Boxers Win Titles On Day One of NWC Championships
SPOKANE, Wash. – The Pacific track & field teams had a tremendous first day at the Northwest Conference Track & Field Championships on Friday. Three athletes finished first and two school were records were set. Eight additional athletes scored points including three who finished in the top three. After the first day of competition and seven events scored for each gender, both the Boxer men and women are in fifth place. The men have 31 points and are just six points behind second. The women have 30 points and are only five points out of third.
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Dianna Church (Bothell, Wash.) won the women's hammer throw with an epic series of throws. She took the lead with her first throw which was a 10-foot personal best.   She briefly lost the lead (by just 5 cm) before re-breaking her personal best by over five feet. She then proceeded to re-set her personal best three times in her final four attempts with a final winning mark of 47.98m (157-5).
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Kolby Nikolaisen (Sumner, Wash.) entered the men's pole vault competition with the best jump in the conference this season (4.57m [15-0]), but had an early scare by needing to clear his opening height on his third and final attempt. After that he settled down and eventually won the competition with a first attempt clearance at a new personal best of 4.58m (15-0.25).
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Stephenie Spencer (Bothell, Wash.) was the second seed in the women's 10,000 meters entering the competition. She ran in the lead pack of four before the top seed broke away 4,000 meters into the race and eventually stretched her lead to over 10 seconds. The three-woman chase pack passed the leader with about 1,500 meters remaining, but neither of the other two could handle the devastating kick Spencer unleased with one lap remaining. She ran the final 400 meters in 70 seconds and won with a personal best and Pacific record time of 37:21.55.
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Karen Du (Santa Clarita, Calif.) set the Pacific record in the women's shot put with a mark of 13.05m (42-09.75) which placed third.Â
Jason Draper (Novato, Calif.) uncorked a 21-foot personal best in the men's hammer throw to finish second.Â
Kaleb Bass (Slate Creek, Idaho) set a personal best of 9:45.15 while finishing third in the men's steeplechase.
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Other scorers on day one included Church 6
th in the women's shot put (12.51m [41-0.5]),
Josh Huffman (Puyallup, Wash.) 6
th in the men's shot put (13.84m [45-5]),
Brian King (Los Angeles, Calif.) 6
th in the men's hammer throw (43.89m [144-0]),
Shannon Hammond (Forest Grove, Ore.) 7
th in the women's high jump (1.51m [4-11.5]) and
Kyle Eisenbeis (Bothell, Wash.) 8
th in the men's steeplechase (10:03.68).
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Three runners qualified for Saturday's finals in Friday's prelimaries:
Megan Eberhardt (Gig Harbor, Wash.) in the women's 400 (61.22),
Kelsey Lee (Monroe, Wash.) in the women's 400 hurdles (65.76) and
Jess Knoll (Arlee, Mont.) in the 800 meters (2:18.10).
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The NWC Track & Field Championships continue Saturday beginning at 10:30 am with five field event finals. Running events begin at noon.
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