2007 Track & Field Season Review
AN
ALL-AMERICAN FINISH: Brooke Barker finished her Pacific career
as the school's first three-time track and field All-American, but not
in the event people would expect.
Barker captured her third trophy with an eighth place finish in the javelin at the NCAA Division III Track and Field Championships on May 26. Barker, who was the national leader in the event leading up to the 2006 nationals, finished with a mark of 135 feet, 11 inches. She put together her placing throw on her second attempt in the preliminary round. She nearly equaled the effort on her final throw of the finals, which came in at 132 feet, 1 inch.
With the finish, Barker became the first Pacific track athlete to ever finish as a three-time All-American. She is also one of five Pacific athletes all-time to become three-time All-Americans, joining Brian Springberg (men's wrestling), Jill Remiticado, Desiree Lockhart and Kapua Torres (women's wrestling).
While expected to come home as an All-American, most thought Barker would earn the honor in the heptathlon. The top returning placer after finishing second in the 2006 championships, the senior finished 11th in her final multi-event competition of her collegiate career with a season high of 4,488 points. Barker won the shot put (14 feet, 4.5 inches) and finished fourth in the javelin (123 feet, 1 inch), but finished no higher than 11th in any of the other five events.
The efforts finish off a standout career for the Eugene native, who leaves Pacific owning six Pacific school records. In addition to qualifying for nationals, Barker won her third Northwest Conference title in the heptathlon and earned individual championships in the shot put and javelin. She was selected as Pacific's Outstanding Female Senior Athlete and was a finalist for the Ad Rutschman Award, honoring the top small college athlete in the state of Oregon.
DISTANCE
QUEEN: For the second straight year, Shana Shosky ran her way
to a Northwest Conference title in a distance event. Unlike last year,
however, she did not have to stage an exciting finish to hold on to the
crown.
Shosky proved an easy winner in the 10,000 meters, finishing in 38:15.78 to win the event at the NWC Championships. She was 10 seconds faster than second place Frances Corcorran of Linfield, who entered the race as the highest seed in the event. Shosky was the conference's 5,000-meter champion in 2006.
The effort left Shosky just short of a chance to make her first trip to
the NCAA Championships. The time, her best of the season, was 35 seconds
short of the meet's provisional qualifying time of 37:40. She ran one more
race in an attempt to qualify, finishing with a time of 38:42.71 at the
Dr. Keeler Invitational in Illinois on May 10.
THROW
DOWN, BIG MEN: While not seeing any of their men make it to the
national meet, Pacific's core of men's throwers made an impact that should
be felt even more over the next couple of years.
For the second straight year, sophomore Ross Bartlett earned a NCAA Championships provisional qualifying mark in the javelin. The former Oregon high school all-state selection threw his qualifying mark, a season best of 191 feet, 6 inches, at the NWC Championships. The mark finished 22nd in the nation, just missing the field of 16 competitors. Bartlett finished fifth at the conference meet behind a very strong field that included eventual Division III champion Joel Krebs of George Fox.
While not earning a qualifying mark for nationals, sophomore Bobby Larkins continued to show steady improvement and scoring potential in the big meets. Larkins finished fifth in the shot put at the NWC Championships with a season best of 44 feet, 10 inches. Larkins consistently had marks between 43 and 45 feet in the shot put all season after throwing between 40 and 42 feet most of his freshman campaign.
In the discus, Larkins found the technique that gave him a 29-foot improvement by the end of the season. After throwing just 103 feet early in the season, Larkins finished with a best of 132 feet, 11 inches at the Apr. 6 Willamette Invitational. He gave the Boxers a point in the event at the NWC Championships, finishing eighth with a throw of 131 feet, 11 inches.
BREAKING THROUGH: It took all of his four-year career, but Justin Donovan finally broke through to run in a NWC Championships final after posting his best season in the red and black. Donovan made it in the 200 meters, finishing sixth in the event with a time of 23.01 seconds. Donovan ran a faster time of 22.80 seconds in the preliminaries, and then ran his lifetime best in his final race, registering 22.71 seconds at the John Knight Invitational on Apr. 27.
Donovan just missed qualifying for the conference final in the 100 meters. His preliminaries time of 11.25 seconds was .10 seconds short of one of the eight finals spots. The time was a lifetime best until the John Knight Invitational the next week, when Donovan capped his career with a time of 11.10 seconds.
LOOKING BEFORE HE LEAPS: Also amongst the emerging talent for the Boxers is sophomore Reggie Torres, who showed great potential in both the long jump and the sprint events. Torres surprised some when he posted his first marks over 20 feet in the long jump, finishing with a season best of 20 feet, 7 inches at the Mar. 16 Linfield Invitational. Torres just missed scoring at the NWC Championships, finishing ninth with a leap of 20 feet, 3 inches.
Torres has also shown the ability to be the heir-apparent to Donovan in the sprint events. Torres qualified for the conference meet in both the 100 meters and 200 meters with season best of 11.53 seconds and 23.41 seconds, respectively.
SMALL SQUAD, QUALITY RESULTS: The Pacific women's track and field team made up for a small squad with a number of quality efforts. Thanks to injuries, the Boxers roster was cut to four athletes early into the season. Of those four, three scored at the NWC Championships. In addition to Barker and Shosky, junior Caitlyn Tateishi scored for the Boxers in the 10,000 meters with a seventh place time of 40:09.91.
HOME IS WHERE THE TRACK IS: After decades of putting together a track and field program without a facility to call their own, Pacific is looking ahead to building a program on their own oval. Construction on a new track at Lincoln Park, located north of the Pacific Athletic Center, began in March. The facility is expected to be completed in September, in time for the Pacific cross country teams to train. The Boxers plan to host their first home meet since the 1970s in Spring 2008. Pacific last put on a track meet in 1998, when the school hosted the NWC Championships at Linfield's Maxwell Field. The track will be the first on the Pacific campus in the post-cinder era.