Track & Field | 2/28/2009 7:28:14 PM

[Results: Willamette Opener]  [Results: SPU Last Chance]

The Western Oregon University men's and women's track and field team was split Saturday, Feb. 28, as members of the squad competed at the Seattle Pacific Last Chance Meet in Seattle and the Willamette Opener in Salem, Ore.

SPU Last Chance
Annan Applebee and Zeke Van Patten both earned NCAA automatic qualifying marks in the 800-meter at the SPU Last Chance Meet.

Applebee posted a time of 2:11.86 to win the race and improve on her previous season-best time of 2:12.87. The NCAA automatic qualifying time in the women's 800m is 2:12.70.

Van Patten won the men's 800m at the SPU Last Chance with an NCAA automatic qualifying standard of 1:51.73. His time topped his previous season-best mark of 1:53.43 and was under the 1:52.20 NCAA automatic time.

Jeff Long registered a time of 1:53.71 in the 800m to earn an NCAA provisional mark.

"So many times through the season these student-athletes have set themselves for team performance not individual gain," said Western Oregon head coach Mike Johnson. "Today allowed them to run in another type of structure and focus on individual accomplishments."

For complete results click here.

Willamette Opener
The Wolves won eight events at the Willamette Opener Saturday (Feb. 28) in the team's first outdoor meet of the season.

On the women's side, Lacey Meusec won the women's 100-meter dash with a time of 12.65. KayAnna Cecchi posted a time of 19:23.61 to win the 5000m while Mandy Keifer won the 100m hurdles with a time of 15.82.

On the men's side, the Wolves won all four sprint events as Chris Freeman took the 100m (11.39), Blake Estep the 200m (23.15), Nick Clark the 400m (51.50) and Michael Kendrick the 110m hurdles (15.50). Bryce Johnson also captured the javelin with a toss of 58.24m.

"We got a chance to go out there and race," noted Johnson, "and we ran hard."

For complete results click here.