The Whitworth Track and Field team competed in the Northwest Conference championships on Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20.

The women’s team took second place, and the men took third. The meet was hosted by Linfield in McMinnville, Oregon.

Marissa Mount, ‘20, started the meet off placing first in the nation in steeplechase with a time of 10:25.87. Kayla Leland, ‘18, followed this up with a NWC record breaking time in the 10K, with a time of 35:54.37. After day one, Whitworth women held the lead.

Leland also came back at day two to pick up another victory, this time in the 1500 meter. Her time, 4:33.25, gave her the win by just a tenth of a second. Danielle Openiano,’18, took third in shot put with a 125’8” toss. Kayla Brase, ‘18, improved her personal best to 38’ 3”, placing her just behind George Fox’s Dakota Buhler.

The women’s performance awarded them 174 points. George Fox came out in first with 226, and Linfield took third with 140 points.

On the men’s side, Jacob Hubbard, ‘19, took second in hammer throw with a throw of 161’ 7”. Nick McGill, ‘20, took second in the high jump with a height of 6’4”. Additionally, Come Nzibarega, ‘18, placed fourth in the 10k. The men ended up in third place after the first day.

The next day, Andrew Bloom, ‘18, broke Whitworth’s school record for javelin with a 229’5” throw, placing second. Nick McGill took third right behind Bloom, with a 193’11” throw. In running, the men took second in the 800 meter dash and second in the 4×400 relay. Daniel Harper, ‘18, finished with a time of 1:57.71. The relay team consisted of Jonathan Backous,’18, McGill, Jacob Sturtevant,’18, and John-Robert Wooley,’18,

The next step for the track and field team is Corvallis, Oregon on Friday May 4 where they’ll attend the high performance meet, and have one last shot to qualify for the Division III Championships.