by Nathan Webber
Five Pirates competed in the Northwest Conference Combined Events Championships on Tuesday at Boppell track in the Whitworth Pine Bowl.
Freshman Pirate Luke Mathews finished in fourth in the two day decathlon event, having a combined score of 5939. Whitworth senior Evan Staley finished in fifth with 5647 points and freshman Stephen Cooper finished in eighth with 5325 points.
Mathews and Staley finished in second and third in the long jump portion of the event, each clearing 6.35m. Staley also came in second in both the 400m dash and the 1500m run.
Senior Evin Colignon of Willamette placed first tallying 6419 total points while Nate and David Dillow of George Fox rounded out the top three.
Whitworth Junior Tera Prosser finished the heptathlon in eighth after the two day meet, totaling 3298 points while Whitworth sophomore Ashley LaFayette finished in tenth with 2702 total points.
Alexis Arnold of George Fox won the heptathlon with 4456 points while Beth Sam of George Fox took second with 4266 points. Brandi Miller of Willamette placed third with a two day score of 4102.
The three Pirate men decathlon athletes earned ten points to their total score at the 2011 NWC Outdoor Track and Field Championships on April 22-23 at Linfield College. The two Whitworth women heptathlon participants earned one point towards the team’s total score.
The Pirate track teams will compete at the Spike Arlt Invitational in Ellensburg this Saturday before finishing the Northwest Conference Championships the following weekend in McMinnville, Oregon.