Boxers compete at Erik Anderson Icebreaker meet at Linfield
The Boxer track & field teams opened their outdoor schedule this weekend at the Erik Anderson Icebreaker Meet at Linfield College. 15 athletes achieved Northwest Conference qualifying marks in 17 events with 10 athletes achieving lifetime bests in their event.
The meet began on Friday night with the 10,000 meters for women and men. Pacific had one athlete in each race and, despite wind and rain throughout the races, both set personal bests while also bettering the NWC qualifying standard.
Stephenie Spencer (Bothell, Wash.) ran the second fastest time in Pacific history with a time of 37:58.75 while
Logan Naegeli (Trout Creek, Mont.) just missed a Boxer top 10 mark with a time of 33:20.71.
Saturday was colder and windier than Friday night, but the rain held off for most of the day (although it came down especially hard during the conclusion of the meet). In the early running events, three athletes qualified for the Northwest Conference Championships.
Kaleb Bass (Slate Creek, Idaho) and
Kyle Eisenbeis (Bothell, Wash.) both qualified in the 3000m steeplechase with solid season opening times of 10:04.28 and 10:11.47 respectively.
Serena Wallace broke her personal best in the 1500 meters by over five seconds, made the Boxer top 10 list (at #7) and qualified for the NWC Championships. Additional NWC standards met on the track were by
Megan Eberhardt (Gig Harbor, Wash.) in the 400 meters (61.41) and
Kelsey Lee (Monroe, Wash.) in the 400 hurdles (69.53). Pacific won two events at the meet. Eberhardt won the women's 400 while Eberhardt, Jessica Knoll (Arlee, Mont.),
Marissa Smith (Rancho Cordova, Calif.) and Lee won the women's 4 x 400 relay.
In the field events, the best mark of the day was turned in by freshman
Kolby Nikolaisen (Sumner, Wash.). He set a personal best in the pole vault with a jump of 4.33m (14-2.5) which is third best in Pacific history and easily qualifies him for the NWC meet.
Dianna Church (Bothell, Wash.) and
George Twigg-Smith (Kailua-Kona, Hawaii) both surpassed the NWC standard in two events. Church threw 11.03m (36-2.25) in the shot put and a personal best of 39.40m (129-3) in the hammer throw. Twigg-Smith jumped 1.85m (6-0.75) in the high jump and a personal best of 13.60m (44-7.5) in the triple jump.
Megan Wesel (Winchester, Calif.) also qualified in the shot put with a mark of 11.19m (36-8.5) while
Gaige Felix (Cheney, Wash.),
Bailey Servoss (Mt. Vernon, Wash.) and
Jenna Hoiland (Oregon City, Ore.) also qualified in the triple jump with marks of 12.80m (42-0), 10.54m (34-7) and 10.17m (33-4.5) respectively.
Karen Du (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) qualified in the discus throw with a mark of 38.12m (125-1).
Pacific competes again next Saturday, March 11 at home. The Boxers will host the Pacific Preview in Hanson Stadium with events beginning at 9:00 am.
