Tacoma, Wash. – The Boxers competed in day 2 of the Northwest Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday. The men's team finished in 5^th place with 59 points and the women's team finished in 4^th place with 79 points. George Fox University won the men's competition with 241 points and the women's competition with 283.5 points.
 
On the track, the men's team had some sprinters qualify out of prelims for their finals, and they picked up some important points out of those races. Romel Moreland took 6^th place in the men's 100m dash, clocking in at 11.21, and Zion Booker took 7^th place in the men's 200m dash, clocking in at 23.00. Both Moreland and Booker were on the men's 4x100m relay team, along with Tyler Vargas and Alex De Leon. The relay team took 5^th with a time of 43.94.

For the women's team, their 4x 100m relay of Dina Altuhovs, Kelly Soriano, Kristi Echiverri and Itzel Vazquez took 6^th place with a time of 54.00. Alexis Lowery had a great weekend, taking 6^th place in the finals of the women's 100m hurdles, and running a collegiate best of 15.58. Freshman Angelica Gatica Gomez continued her impressive season by running a lifetime PR in the 400m prelims, 58.57, and then returning on Saturday to race a strong final and finish in second place with a time of 59.37.

In the 400m hurdles, Emily Rutkowski ran extremely well in her final to finish in 3^rd place with a time of 1:06.13. Teammate Baily Yee had a phenomenal race in prelims, and took 8^th place to make it to finals – he was not predicted to do so. Then in the final, Yee ran a lifetime PR of 1:01.21 to finish in 7^th and score 2 points for the Boxers.

In the distance events, the Stewart twins put on some exciting races. Garrett Stewart took 8^th place in his prelim, just barely getting into his final. He ran his best race of the year in the final, and took it down to the wire in the last 100 meters of the race. He finished in 3^rd place in a time of 1:55.86 – just 0.37 seconds separated first place from third place in this race.
Stewart's twin brother Riley Stewart followed suit, placing 8^th in the 1500m prelims and then showing up big in his 1500m final. Stewart took the lead with 800m to go and pushed the pace. There were three men all bunched up competing for that third place spot with 120 meters to go, and Stewart held off his competitors down the homestretch to finish in 3^rd with a lifetime PR of 3:53.62.

In the women's 1500m, Abby Klein and Morgan Henry managed to score some points for the Boxers. Klein took 6^th place in 4:58.78 and Henry took 8^th place with 4:59.55. Will Neal also picked up a point with his 8^th place finish in the men's 3,000m steeplechase.

In the women's 3,000m steeplechase, Maddy Hubbs led the race from the gun. Maintaining a significant lead throughout the entire race, she crossed the line in first place with a time of 11:37.98 – just 3 seconds shy of her PR. She was crowned the NWC Champion in the women's 3,000m steeplechase and earned 10 points for her team. Hubbs also scored 2 points for her team in the women's 5,000m with her 7^th place finish and time of 18:59.05.

Kara Putman also was a key point scorer on the women's side. Putman racked up 16 points all by herself with her two runner-up finishes in the women's 10,000m and 5,000m races. She clocked in at 38:00.18 for the 10k and 18:04.27 in the 5k. Coming in right behind her in the 5,000m was Annie Berry, who took third in that race and ran a lifetime PR of 18:06.91. In the 10,000m Abby Klein picked up 5 points with her 4th place finish and time of 40:00.97. 

On the men's side, Erik Maack earned a total of 11 points for his team. He started the meet with a third place finish in the men's 10,000m race in a time of 31:48.84. Maack followed up with a strong 5,000m race to finish in 4^th and run a lifetime PR of 14:51.80. Riley Stewart also scored a point in the men's 5k with his 8^th place finish, time of 15:11.64.

In the throwing events, Naomi Johnson had a fantastic meet, taking 2^nd place in the women's discus with her toss of 41.253. Savannah Ashbaugh also had a huge meet and threw a massive PR in the women's shot put to take 5^th place, which was a surprise for all her conference competitors and picked up an unexpected 5 points for the Boxers. Andrew Reid had a great day in the shot put as well, taking third place with his throw of 14.22m. Reid also scored 2 points for his 7^th place finish in the hammer throw, a mark of 43.92m. In the men's javelin, Dominic Funk finished in 3^rd place with his throw of 57.10m. Teammate Kristian Bumanlag finished in 6^th with a big PR throw of 53.18m.

In the jumps, Tyler Vargas picked up a point with his 8^th place finish in the men's triple jump with his leap of 12.44m. Jarod Moren also took 4^th place in the men's pole vault with his height clearance of 3.77m.
 
The 4x400m relay teams closed out the meet for the Boxers. The men ran a great race, with coaches clocking them in at 3:33, good for a 6^th place finish, but unfortunately the team was DQ'd for a runner being out of the exchange zone at the time of the baton exchange. The women's team comprised of Emily Rutkowski, Elizabeth Bradley, Kristin Pilgrim and Angelica Gatica Gomez finished in 5^th with their season best time of 4:08.52.

"I'm proud of the way our team competed in the championships this weekend," said head track and field coach Ryan Hunter-Simms. "Several of our athletes made it out of prelims into finals and competed very well. We also had many athletes exceed their prelim or pre-championship rankings. I'm happy about the amount of points we scored relative to the amount of athletes who competed, and I'm excited about the future of Boxer track and field!"

Some track and field athletes will continue to compete for the next month, looking for NCAA Qualifying marks or school records. Next up for the Boxers is the Oregon State High Performance meet on Friday, April 29, where several distances runners will compete.

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