Newberg, Ore. - Four Boxers traveled down to George Fox University on April 14th and 15th to compete at the Northwest Conference Combined Championship meet. This is where representatives from other NWC schools come together to contest the decathlon (for men, ten events) and the heptathlon (for women, seven events). The top eight finishers for the decathlon and heptathlon begin the scoring for the Northwest Conference Track and Field Championships next week.
Day one got off to a hot start. In the decathlon, Pacific junior Kamron Shields ran a personal best in the 100-meter run, finishing second overall. Senior Braden Kent also ran a personal record. Next came the long jump, where Shields jumped a season best and Kent had a personal record. The third event for the men was the shot put, where both Boxers had strong showings. The next event was another jump, the high jump. At this event, Shields had some great attempts and managed to clear bars just a few centimeters under his PR. Kent also had great attempts, setting a new personal record in the event at 1.61 meters. The final event for the day in the decathlon was the 400, where Shields ran a season best and Kent ran very close to his PR. After day one, Shields was sitting in 6th place with 3210 points and Kent was in 11th with 2642 points, both of which were their highest scores they have gotten after the first day of competition.
In the heptathlon, day one was also a big success. Junior
Courtney Tiernan had a massive PR in the 100 hurdles, finishing third in the event and moving herself up to the fourth spot on Pacific's All-Time Top Ten list in the event. Freshman
Dani Hammond also secured a personal record in the 100 hurdles. The second event for the women was the high jump. Tiernan had a strong showing, finishing only a few centimeters under her personal best. Hammond had a very good day in the high jump, surpassing her personal record and leaping 1.54 meters, breaking the five foot barrier and moving to No. 7 on the All-Time Top Ten list. After the high jump was shot put, where Tiernan finished with another personal record mark and Hammond not far behind her own PR. The last event of the day for the women was the 200, where both women ran personal record times, with Hammond running a time fast enough to qualify her in the open 200m for next week's NWC championships. After day one, Tiernan was in 7th place with 2327 points, and Hammond in 10th with 2109 points. These are also the highest scores these two athletes have earned after the first day of competition.
"Our heptathletes and decathletes put on a strong performance for both days! All four of them had really solid day one performances setting themselves up for day two." said head coach Ryan Huntersimms.
Day two for the men started with 110 hurdles. Shields ran a personal record in a time of 17.24 seconds and Kent was less than one tenth of a second behind his best time. Next came the discus, where both men had a decent showing, not too far below their best throws. In the pole vault, Shields unfortunately was unable to clear a bar which resulted in zero points from the event. Kent managed to clear 3.10 meters, which is 4 centimeters under his personal best.
After vault came the javelin throw. Kent threw a personal best of 40.06, breaking the 40-meter barrier for the first time. Shields had a good throw as well, getting close to his best mark. The final event was the 1500 and after nine other events in the sun, it was a battle. Shields started out well, sticking to his pace the first 1.75 laps. The next lap he maintained his position, and then he closed very well in the final 400 to take 5th in the event. Kent experienced some tightness in his hamstring during the previous two events, but wasn't going to go down without a fight, finishing the last race and reaching completion of all ten events. In the end, Shields finished in 9th place with 5073 points and Kent was 10th with 4502 points.
Day two for the women started with the long jump. Tiernan started well by jumping a personal record, as did Hammond who jumped an outdoor season best. After the long jump was the javelin throw. Tiernan set another personal record throwing 27.57, while Hammond came within inches of her own best throw. The final event of the day came down to the 800. Tiernan went three for three in personal records for the day, finishing in a time of 2:38.83, just under her previous best of 2:38.98. Hammond, however, had a massive PR of 13 seconds, dropping her time from 3:00.59 all the way down to 2:47.11. In the end, Tiernan finished the heptathlon in 7th place with 3940 points, securing two points for the women's team competition and moving up to the second best performance in Pacific history for the heptathlon. Hammond finished in 10th place with a personal record score of 3473 points.
"I'm very proud of the way that they competed and excited for the future of the combined events group moving forward." said Coach Huntersimms. "Courtney putting on a show for us to place seventh overall and become second all time in school history is phenomenal!"
Conference Qualifiers
200m
Dani Hammond
Top Ten Performances
Courtney Tiernan, 100m hurdles, #4 All-Time, 15.65
Courtney Tiernan, heptathlon, #2 All-Time, 3940 points
Dani Hammond, high jump, #7 All-Time, 1.54m
Up Next
Pacific will next be sending athletes to the Larry Byerly Invitational at Lewis and Clark College this Saturday, April 19th. This will be the last opportunity for some of our athletes to qualify for next week's NWC championship meet, so there are sure to be some good performances to be had.
For the latest information on Boxer Athletics, make sure to check out GoBoxers.com. You can also find the Boxers on social media at @GoBoxers and @boxertfxc on Instagram.
