BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Oregon University men's and women's track and field teams are off to strong starts at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Combined Events Championships that began Monday in Bellingham.
Jenelle Hurley, Ana Popchock and Amity Deters are in third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Macy Clemens is in eighth, but is just a few points back of the sixth spot. Brennen Sorah posted a pair of top three results and is in eighth through the first day.
Hurley leads the Wolves with 2,773 points, trailing only Alaska Anchorage's Elena Cano's 2,887 points and Central Washington's McCall DeChenne's 2,812 points. Hurley posted a pair of top three finishes and a pair of top four results. Starting out the day in the heptathlon, Hurley came in fourth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.17. She followed that result up coming in third in the high jump reaching a height of 4-11.5. It was a new PR distance for Hurley in the shot put coming in third with a distance of 33-8.5. She then closed the first day coming in fourth in the 200 with a time of 26.25 which is another new PR.
Popchock is in fourth with 2,603 points. Her top result on the day was placing second in the 200 with a time of 25.83 for a new PR. Popchock opened the day coming in third in the 100 hurdles with a time of 15.11. It was a new PR distance in the shot put when Popchock came in fourth with a distance of 29-4.75. To round out the results for the opening day, Popchock came in eighth in the high jump with a height of 4-6.75.
Deters is just a few points back of Popchock sitting in fifth with 2,596. Deters was strong once again in the high jump coming in second with a height of 5-3. Deters came in fifth in the 200 crossing with a time of 27.19. She wasn't far off her PR time in the 100 hurdles coming in sixth with a time of 15.89. Rounding out the results for day one, Deters came in eighth in the shot put with a distance of 28-1.5.
Clemens is in eighth after the first four events with 2,341 points, but is just 66 points back of sixth. Clemens placed fourth in the high jump clearing a height of 4-10.25. She opened the day coming in seventh in the 100 hurdles with a time of 16.10. Clemens added another seven-place finish in the shot put with a distance of 28-3.5 for a new PR. Rounding out the results, Clemens came in eighth in the 200 with a time of 28.39, which is just off her PR time of 28.36.
In the decathlon, Sorah competed for the Wolves and is in eighth with 2,674 points following the first day. He posted several strong results coming in second in the shot put with a distance of 37-11.5 for a new PR. He then placed third in the high jump clearing a mark of 6-2.75 for another PR. Sorah came in fourth in the long jump with a mark of 20-8.5 for another PR distance. He opened the day with another PR in the 100 coming in with a time of 11.63 to place fifth. To close the first day, Sorah didn't compete in the 400. Western Washington's Ryan Kenny leads the decathlon with 3,365 points.
Day two of the GNAC Combined Events Championships will continue tomorrow (Tuesday) with the decathlon starting at 9:30 a.m. and the heptathlon beginning at 10:30 a.m.
