Shipley's Double Leads Boxer Men To Second At NWC Championships
Meet ResultsTACOMA, Wash. – Tyler Shipley's (So., Forest Grove, Ore.) distance double and seven more all-conference finished led the Pacific men's track and field team to their best finish in 38 years Saturday as the Northwest Conference Track and Field Championships concluded at the University of Puget Sound's Baker Stadium.
Shipley completed his double by winning the men's 5,000 meters and in doing so was named the Men's Track Athlete of the Meet for the second straight season. His two titles led the Boxers to a second place finish with 106 points. It is the sixth time in school history that the Pacific men have finished second in the NWC Championships and the first time since 1976.
Pacific edged out Willamette and Pacific Lutheran, who tied for third with 102 points. Whitworth was the runaway winner as they claimed their fifth consecutive team title with a total of 225 points.
The Pacific women placed eighth in the team competition with 24 points, thanks in part to four individual point scorers on the meet's final day. George Fox claimed their four consecutive women's title with a total of 195.5 points.
Shipley led from start to finish in the men's 5,000 meters, gaining a strong lead on the field by midway through the race en route to claiming the title with a three-second personal best of 14:54.73. The finish was 11 seconds better than second place Parker Bennett of Willamette.
Daniel Wagner (Jr., Kailua, Hawaii) earned All-NWC honors in both hurdles disciplines to score critical points in the team race. Wagner opened the day by placing second in the men's 110-meter hurdles in a lifetime best of 15.29 seconds. The performance is third best in school history and is Pacific's fastest time in the event since 1977. Wagner then added a second place finish in the 400-meter hurdles, improving his No. 10 time on the all-time list with a performance of 56.24 seconds.
The men's 400-meter relay team of Trey Oshiro-Atabay (Jr., Aiea, Hawaii), Kris Sapp (Fr., Sacramento, Calif.),
Aaron Koford (Sr., Wilsonville, Ore.) and Michael Zane (Jr., Honolulu, Hawaii) earned All-NWC honors. Their second place time of 42.53 seconds is the ninth fastest in school history and the first team to crack the list since 1980.
The 1,600-meter relay team of Sean Higginbotham (Fr., Phoenix, Ariz.), Koford, Oshiro-Atabay and Gary Fanelli (Fr., Honolulu, Hawaii) placed fifth in a time of 3:26.07.
Kelson Kawai (Sr., North Kohala, Hawaii) added All-NWC honors in the triple jump in his last NWC meet performance, popping a season best of nearly two feet to place second with a mark of 44 feet, 5.5 inches. Jeremy Parkinson (So., Hubbard, Ore.) had a 14-inch season best to finish fifth with a mark of 43 feet, 8.5 inches.
Oshiro-Atabay was among four other sprinters to score points for the Pacific men, placing fourth in the 400 meters with a personal best of 50.14 seconds. Higginbotham followed close behind in eighth place with a time of 52.11 seconds. Sapp added a sixth place finish in the 200 meters with a time of 22.99 seconds and placed seventh in the 100 meters in 11.15 seconds. Zane finished seventh in the 200 with a time of 23.16 seconds.
In the field events, Michael Teves (Fr., Makawao, Hawaii) finished seventh in the pole vault, clearing 13 feet, 6.5 inches. Taylor Hickson (Jr., Red Bluff, Calif.) placed eighth in the javelin with a season best of 179 feet, 2 inches and Jesse Bethke (Sr., Cave Junction, Ore.) was eighth in the discus with a throw of 136 feet, 7 inches.
In the women's competition, Kelsey Lee (So., Monroe, Wash.) led the way with a fifth place finish in the 400-meter hurdles. Her personal best time of 1:05.87 moves her into No. 3 on Pacific's all-time list. Kelli Aken-Pagdilao (Sr., Makawao, Hawaii) placed seventh in the 100 meters with a season best of 12.75 seconds. Lisa Martin (So., Gresham, Ore.) placed eighth in the 5,000 meters, notching an 18-second lifetime best with a time of 18:30.29. The performance ranks No. 3 on Pacific's all-time list.
McKenna Davidson (So., Kailua-Kona, Hawaii) exploded for a three-foot personal best in the triple jump, placing seventh with a leap of 35 feet, 2 inches. The performance moves Davidson into No. 2 on the Pacific all-time list.
Both women's relays also earned spots on the all-time list. The 400-meter relay team of Mariah Ariola (Jr., Honolulu, Hawaii), Alexis Damo (So., Honolulu, Hawaii), Emily Tuffey (Jr., Valencia, Calif.) and Aken-Pagdilao placed sixth in 50.28 seconds, good for No. 4 on the all-time list. The 1,600-meter relay team of Tuffey, Lee, Aken-Pagdilao and Damo finished seventh in 4:11.68, the second fastest time in school history.
Pacific looks forward now to one more big meet before the 2014 season starts winding down. The Boxers will host their annual Pacific Twilight meet on Friday and Saturday at Lincoln Park Stadium.
BOXER BYTES: Shipley is the second athlete to earn back-to-back Athlete of the Meet awards since the conference began giving the award to both a track athlete and a field athlete in 2011…The 1976 Pacific men's team finished with 158 points, losing to Linfield by just six points…Pacific's men also finished second in 1930, 1934, 1963 and 1964. The Boxers have never won the NWC team title…By meet's end, Pacific saw 11 changes or improvements to the top-10 lists along with one school record in the men's hammer by Travis George...Points in the meet included the NWC Multi-Event Championships, which were held on Apr. 14 & 15.
Aaron Koford placed seventh in the decathlon.
