Matsumoto Leads Big Pacific Hurdles Day At L&C Spring Break Open
Meet Results
PORTLAND, Ore. – Jenna Matsumoto (Sr., Kailua, Hawaii) led a solid day for Pacific's hurdlers with a pair of season bests Saturday, leading the efforts of the Pacific track & field team at the Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open, held at the Eldon Fix Track.
Matsumoto was the winner in a 400-meter hurdles race that saw three Pacific athletes establish seasonal bests. Matsumoto won in 1:07.48 to post a one-second improvement. Kori Bellwood (So., Yamhill, Ore.) placed third in 1:08.23, Jessica Head (So., North Bend, Ore.) was fourth with season best time of 1:09.69 and Chloe Hallyburton (Jr., Dayton, Ore.) placed sixth in a season best time of 1:10.38.
In the 100-meter hurdles, Matsumoto turned in a season best time with her second place finish of 16.15 seconds. The mark is a lifetime best and betters her No. 3 time on the Pacific all-time list.
Hallyburton followed her hurdles performance up with a second place finish in the high jump with a season-best effort of 4 feet, 11 inches.
In addition, Pacific's women's 400-meter relay team of Kelli Aken-Pagdilao (So., Makikilo, Hawaii), Bellwood, Matsumoto and Nicole Smith (Sr., Wailuku, Hawaii) equaled their season best, placing second in 50.41 seconds to match the No. 2 all-time mark they ran at last week's Pacific Twilight.
Freshman sprinter Michael Zane (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) found himself edging closer to record territory in the men's 100 meters. Zane finished second with a time of 11.03 seconds, ranking him seventh on Pacific's all-time list and making him just the third Pacific athlete since 1979 to run faster than 11.05 seconds.
Michael Hunker (Jr., Cornelius, Ore.) placed second in the 110-meter hurdles with his time of 15.78 seconds and Jerry Sanchez (Jr., Mecca, Calif.) placed third in the 5,000 meters with a season best of 15:56.21. Joe Deardorff (Jr., Independence, Ore.) was just behind Sanchez in fourth place in a season best 16:02.65.
Jilinda Franklin (Jr., Fort Jones, Calif.) matched Sanchez's third place time in the 5,000 meters, taking third in the women's side of the event with a time of 19:37.84.
In the process, Pacific added four more athletes to the ever-growing list of qualifiers to the NWC Championships in April. Roberta Kelley (So., Warrenton, Ore.), Nicole Brown (Jr., Wailuku, Hawaii) and Shauna Kinilau (Fr., Waipahu, Hawaii) all qualified in the women's triple jump. Spencer Wilson (Fr., La Pine, Ore.) earned qualifying marks in the 200 meters and 400 meters, Travis George (So., Grants Pass, Ore.) added a qualifying mark in the discus and Annette Highley (Jr., Juneau, Alaska) qualified in the women's shot put.
Pacific will take next weekend off from competition and will return to the track on Sat., Apr. 7, when they compete in the Linfield Jenn Boyman Memorial Invitational.
