ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Western Oregon University men's track and field team put together multiple strong performances on Saturday to place third on the final day of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships.
"Great day for our Western Oregon track and field family. I'm very proud of our men and women," head coach Octavious Gillespie-Bennett said. "It was hard to imagine that our athletes would be able to top the great performance they accomplished during the indoor season, but they exceeded all expectations. As a coach, it is great to know your team has a great fighting spirit."
WOU tallied 94 points to come in third, with Western Washington claiming the title with 240 points, followed by Northwest Nazarene in second with 129.5 points.
Dominique Loggins ran another personal-best time in the 100 in another GNAC Championships event as he posted a time of 10.61 to win the 100. His new time moves him to fifth on the WOU all-time list. Loggins won last year's 100 at the GNAC Outdoor Championships with a time of 10.73.
There were several big performances in the hammer. Samuel Cole hit a new PR mark with a distance of 178-7 to come in second. Mark Warren followed his PR in the shot put on Friday with another PR on Saturday in the hammer hitting a distance of 169-6 to come in third. Owen Collins came in 13th.
Gabe Arce-Torres added a new PR in the 400 when he posted a time of 48.68 to come in second. His new time is just outside of the top 10 on the WOU all-time record books.
Emmett Klus tallied points in the 800 when he came in sixth with a time of 1:53.88.
Hunter Hutton and Justin Crosswhite led the way for the Wolves in the 1,500. Hutton came in fifth with a time of 3:51.60, followed by Crosswhite in seventh with a time of 3:52.94. Keeton Sanchez came in ninth with a time of 3:55.31. Klus also competed in the 1,500 placing 12th.
Bailey Smith added more team points in the 5,000 when he came in fifth with a time of 14:58.72.
Marlon Harrison hit a new PR in the triple jump when he placed second with a distance of 45-5.75. Jacob Flury added a team point when he collected a new PR distance of 42-2.25 to come in eighth.
Then in the relays, the 4x100 team of Loggins, James Mazzeo, Amari Hendrix and Arce-Torres came in fifth with a time of 42.47. In the 4x400, the Wolves placed fourth with a time of 3:20.17 with Arce-Torres, Hendrix, Sanchez and Timothy Rambo competing for WOU.
WOU will now wait until Tuesday to see if some of their athletes will be selected to compete in the NCAA Nationals. Austin Goldstein is ranked in a tie for 20th in NCAA DII in the javelin.
