Sports

Saints run away with top showing at Open

By Christina Hammett

The Saints Open track and field meet, held Saturday on the Mt. Hood track, was bustling with people and competitors as more than 10 different colleges and independent running organizations battled against MHCC for a top position in the NWAACC.

In the unscored meet, the women’s team had eight first-place finishes (although three of the top finishers are as yet unattached to MHCC at least until the beginning of spring term), including Catherine Sims (unattached), who took first in both the 100-meter dash and the 400-meter hurdles, and Amber Glunt, who was first in the 400-meter dash and was the final leg of the top women’s 400-meter relay team (including Stephany Pitts, Crystal Sims and Jordan Bainbridge).

Sheryl Breck (unattached) took first place in the 800-meter run, Terra Shumacher was the top woman in the pole vault, and Mandy Federici (unattached) was the top women’s competitor in the hammer throw. Adrienne Davis was first in the shot put with a toss of 42-02.25 meters and second in the hammer throw with a hurl of 125 meters, behind Federici (who threw 139-01 meters), and managed to eclipse her personal records in both events.

“The women, if the meet was scored, won,” said head coach Matt Hart. “They did really well.”

Sims, who won the 400-meter hurdles, said she was actually competing in the event for the first time. “I’ve never done it before. I was just trying to focus on finishing the race,” she said. “But it was fun.”

The men did not fare as well as the women, but they still had some substantial finishes. Jessy Brown ran away with the men’s 1500-meter run (with a time of 4:03.64) and took second place in the 800-meter run. Ben Altemus came in third in the 3000-meter steeplechase, Eric Skipper was second in the hammer throw, and Jacobsen Valentine threw his way into the first place in the shot put.

This Saturday, some of the men and women will again compete at home in the Heptathlon/Decathlon Qualifier. According to Hart, many of the competing Saints will be attempting the extensive event for the very first time. “Amber Glunt did it last year so she will have a lot more experience than the freshmen, but some of these women (and men) will be doing this for the first time ever,” he said. “This meet is designed to break the ice and show them what it’s going to be like. If they do their best, they will have good marks.”

Following the heptathlon/decathlon meet, the men and women will head out on a four-meet road trip, including the University of Oregon Preview (March 22), the University of Washington Husky Outdoor Preview (March 28), the Willamette Invite (April 4-5), and finally to the Washington-Oregon Clash (April 12), where two teams from Oregon will join forces (MHCC and Lane) and will take on two teams from Washington (Spokane and Clark).

“(At the University of Oregon meet,) there will be more user-friendly marks that are more representative of our real marks,” said Hart. “In that type of venue you really have the potential to do well.”

When the Willamette Invite approaches, Hart said the team will finally be in their competitive groove. “Willamette will be our time to transition our focus to the process of performance,” he said. “They will no longer be practice meets.”

At the moment, the team is beginning a new conditioning regimen, adding speed components to their training schedule. “We’re starting to transition from power running to speed running. It allows the body to recover more,” said Hart. “We’ll be flying when it’s time to fly.”

Hart said the only thing he wants from those on campus is that more people show up to the home meets. “I would love to see more people there encouraging the athletes. It’s the time of the year to get outside and go support your college and have fun doing it.”