Koford, Smith Both Score For Boxers In NWC Multi-Events
Meet Results
McMINNVILLE, Ore. –
Aaron Koford (So., Wilsonville, Ore.) and Nicole Smith (Sr., Wailuku, Hawaii) earned Pacific's first points for the upcoming Northwest Conference Track and Field Championship by placing in the decathlon and heptathlon, respectively, at the NWC Multi-Event Championships. The meet was held Monday and Tuesday at Maxwell Field.
Smith improved one place over her day one finish in the heptathlon, placing seventh with a lifetime best of 3,673 points. She earned two points for the Pacific women at the NWC Championships in just her third career multi-event competition.
Koford, meanwhile, slipped three places off of his first day efforts, placing eighth with a lifetime best score of 5,478 points. The score is a 200-point improvement over his previous best set at last year's NWC Multi-Event meet and earns the Pacific men one point towards the conference meet, which takes place Apr. 20-21 in Tacoma, Wash.
Smith opened day two by tying for fifth place in the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 0.25 inches. She followed that up with a second place finish in the javelin with a throw of 100 feet, 5 inches. She closed the competition with a seventh place finish in the 800 meters in a time of 2:41.96, a 10-second improvement over her time at last month's Pacific Preview.
In day one of the competition, Smith set personal bests in the high jump, jumping 4 feet, 7.75 inches, and the shot put with a mark of 28 feet, 5 inches. Smith also ran a season best of 27.10 seconds in the 200 meters to qualify for the NWC Championships.
Koford opened the second day of the decathlon with an eighth place finish in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 19.08 seconds. He came back to place second in his specialty, the discus, with a mark of 116 feet, 1 inch and added a seventh place finish in the pole vault, clearing 10 feet. Koford finished the day with ninth place finishes in the javelin (121-9) and the 1,500 meters (5:08.30).
On day one, Koford won the 100 meters in a time of 11.55 seconds and won the shot put with a mark of 39 feet, 0.5 inches.
Joe Cerne of Puget Sound won the decathlon title with a score of 6,239 points, beating second place Luke Mathews of Whitworth by nearly 300 points. Alexis Arnold of George Fox won her second straight NWC heptathlon title with score of 4,554 points, leading a sweep of the top four places by the Bruins.
