ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Jenelle Hurley stayed right near the top throughout all seven events in the heptathlon over the two days of the Central Washington Multi before coming in second. She was just points back of first. JJ Walker was the top finisher on the men's side for the Wolves in the decathlon coming in fourth.
Hurley tallied 4,596 points and was just 33 points back of Seattle Pacific's Renick Meyer who took the top spot with 4,629 points. Makenzie Smith came in sixth with 3,782 points and Amity Deters in eighth with 3,589 points.
Having come in third in the 100-meter hurdles, winning the high jump, coming in third in the shot put and then fifth in the 200-meters, Hurley held the lead entering Saturday and it would go right down to the last event. The first event on Saturday was the long jump and Hurley reached a distance of 17-2.25 to place second. In the javelin, Hurley had the second-best throw in the event hitting a mark of 105-9. That meant the last event, which was the 800-meter, would decide who would win the heptathlon. Hurley placed fifth with a time of 2:31.76, just behind Meyer who came in fourth (2:30.74). It's a new season-high point total for Hurley in the heptathlon as she recorded 4,045 in the first multi on Mar. 10.
Smith opened the day hitting a distance of 15-11.75 in the long jump to place ninth. After throwing to a fifth-place result in the javelin, Smith closed the meet posting a time of 2:32.53 in the 800-meter to come in sixth. During Friday's events, Smith came in eighth in the 100-meter hurdles, third in the high jump, sixth in the shot put and 11th in the 200-meters.
Deters started the day hitting a distance of 16-1.75 to tie for fifth in the long jump. In the javelin, Deters placed 10th before finishing the event in the 800-meters coming in eighth. During the events on Friday, Deters came in 11th in the 100-meter hurdles, second in the high jump, 10th in the shot put and sixth in the 200-meters. Deters also improved on her earlier heptathlon point total from the Mar. 10 WOU Multi Meet where she tallied 3,312 points.
In the men's decathlon, Walker led the way for the Wolves coming in fourth with 5,665 points. Deshaun Stevens came in sixth with 5,366 points. Central Washington's Braydon Maier won the event with 6,849 points.
Walker began the stretch of the final five events on Saturday in the 110-meter hurdles crossing with a time of 16.33 to place fifth and improve on his season-best mark in the event. Walker added a season-best throw in the discus when he won the event hitting a distance of 118-7.5. Walker continued with the strong results into the pole vault where he came in second hitting a height of 14-9. After placing fourth in the javelin, he didn't finish the final event of the 1,500-meter to conclude the meet in fourth. During the first day, Walker came in fourth in the 100-meters, fifth in the long jump, fourth in the shot put, first in the high jump and fifth in the 400-meters.
Stevens began the day coming in seventh in the 110-meter hurdles (17.51). He placed sixth in the discus, tied for sixth in the pole vault and then came in ninth in the javelin. Stevens finished the meet strong in the 1,500-meter when he crossed with a time of 4:33.47 to win the event and set a new season-best mark. In addition to his new season-best mark in the 1,500, Stevens also improved his distance in the discus. Stevens improved on his first multi during the WOU meet on Mar. 10 when he tallied 4,889 points in the decathlon. During the first day, Stevens placed eighth in the 100-meters, third in the long jump, seventh in the shot put, eighth in the high jump and second in the 400-meters.
This coming week, WOU will host the Pop Up Meet on Friday morning.
