by Jordanne Perry
The ranked Whitworth men’s and women’s track and field teams competed in the 11th Annual Sam Adams Classic and both claimed victories over five of the six opponents besides Washington State University in a dual meet scoring match-up this past weekend.
In the Northwest Conference, both the men’s and women’s team bested the Pacific Lutheran Lutes with overall scores of 105-53 and 119-40, respectively.
The women, who are currently ranked 18th in the nation, had strong top-two NWC Championship qualifying finishes in the 800-meter run with sophomore Kayla Leland’s first place time of 2:16.06 and senior Katie McKay’s second place 2:16.52 finish currently seeding them in 19th and 22nd place in the nation, respectively.
The men’s team, currently ranked No. 11 nationally, had top-two finishes in the 400-meter dash from freshman Jalen Robinson-McClure and senior Nicholas Gosselin who tied with a time of 49.48. This season best time for Gosselin and personal best time for Robinson-McClure were qualifying marks for both of them.
Another top performance featured sophomore Andrew Bloom, the current leader the nation in the javelin event, who greatly improved his leading mark by over three feet with a throw of 213′ 2″ landing him in a first place finish over 19 other competitors.
Overall Whitworth won five events, had 20 athletes finish in the top three places, and over 20 athletes post NWC qualifying marks in various events.
Whitworth track and field will return to action at World War #8 beginning on April 8th hosted by Spokane Falls Community College.