by Nathan Webber
The Whitworth track & field teams went to Seattle Feb. 12 to compete in the University of Washington Open Meet at Dempsey Indoor Track.
Two Whitworth shot putters placed in the top 10 including junior Carter Comito who finished in third place with a throw of 16.18 meters.
ophomore Sam Wright placed seventh with a throw of 14.46 meters. The two placed second and third in the same arena on Jan. 28 of this year at the University of Washington Track and Field Invitational.
The Bucs competed against multiple Division I schools this past weekend, including Sacramento State, The University of Idaho, Seattle University and Long Beach State.
“I like playing against Division I competition a lot,” junior Steven Acosta said. “It pushes me to be faster. I also like beating people with scholarships when we don’t have any.”
The men’s team had a solid day in the long jump and in the high jump. Three Pirates finished in the top 30 long jumpers, being led by a 13th place finish from sophomore Jonathan Hoff with a jump of 6.45 meters. Sophomore Peter Delap placed 27 with a jump of 6.11 meters and junior Shannon Winant placed 28 with a jump of 6.09 meters. Delap and Winant also finished 12th and 18th in the triple jump.
Junior Frank Lima finished third in the high jump clearing a height of two meters and fourth in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 8.98 seconds. That was 0.05 seconds from winner Ryan O’Dell from Warner Pacific with a time of 8.93 seconds.
Junior Spokane native Chibron Tomeo placed eighth in the pole vault clearing a height of 4.55 meters and Acosta finished strong in the men’s 800 meter run as he finished in 16th with a time of 1:55.68.
“The track (at Dempsey Indoor) is shorter than our track” Acosta said. “Theirs is 300 meters around while ours is 400 so it throws off the planning on what you want to do during the race.”
The Whitworth women were led by freshman Christina Dobbins and sophomore Jheri Gates who both finished ninth in the women’s high jump, each clearing 1.60 meters. Dobbins also broke the school record in the 60 meter hurdles with a time of 9.61 seconds.
Freshman Rachel Palmquist competed well on the women’s long jump, reaching a distance of 10.49 meters. Palmquist also had a distance of 4.95 meters in the women’s long jump and ran the 60 meter dash in 8.51 seconds. Her teammate in the 60 meter dash, sophomore Stephanie Barrong, ran the race in 8.37 seconds.
“I was really happy about our performance today,” Acosta said. “Everyone is on the same level of mental readiness there so the atmosphere was pretty chill, easy to focus.”
Both Pirate track and field teams will travel to Moscow, Idaho on Feb. 18 to compete in the Vandal (Indoor) Collegiate on the University of Idaho campus.
Contact Nathan Webber at nwebber13@my.whitworth.edu.