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Photo contributed by Matt Hart
Right: Sophomore Robert Hanke running in the 400-meter hurdles at the NWAACC Championships where he placed first with a time of 53.68. Left: Molly Scoles handing off to Laura Knudson in the 4x400-meter relay at the NWAACC Championship meet. The team placed first for the second consecutive year.
Saints bring home four NWAACC titles
The Advocate
For the second consecutive year, the Saint's women's 4x100-meter relay team laid claim to the NWAACC title at the NWAACC Championships meet held Monday and Tuesday at Spokane Falls Community College.
MHCC athlete Terra Zodrow, who also was the NWAACC champion in the long jump, was voted "2012 Most Outstanding Field Event Athlete of the Meet", as voted for by the conference coaches after her performance at the meet as well.
Winning the award came as a surprise said Zodrow, who also ran the last leg on the 4x100-meter.
Zodrow, who ran her last meet donning MHCC's red and black this week, was most excited with the relay performances.
"In the (4x400-meter relay) we had a six second PR," said Zodrow.
Freshman Molly Scoles, also a part of the 4x100-meter, said she was thrilled after the team took the title for the second year in a row, of which head track and field coach Matt Hart said the team ran one of the fastest times in school history.
"Being a freshman going in I really didn't have a lot of expectations to build off from last year," said Molly Scoles, "I think that we did pretty dang good."
"I knew that we were really close with Spokane (Community College) going in, so we definitely had to work out butts off for that little extra bit and we won by a lot."
"I was anticipating for it to be a close race and when I saw Terra coming around the corner way ahead, it was pretty exciting," said Scoles.
As far as results were concerned, sophomore Robert Hanke was the sole NWAACC champion on the men's side, winning the 400-meter hurdles (53.68).
The jumps and sprints on the men's side had a strong showing in general, with top performances including a third place finish by freshman Douglas Sudberry in the 100-meter (11.27), a second place finish by freshman Jacob Troupe in the high jump (1.98-meters) and a fourth place finish by freshman Chris Un in the triple jump (13.31-meters).
In the men's relays, the 4x100-meter team, consisting of Hanke, Douglas, Troupe and freshman LT Avants placed fourth (42.46) and the 4x400-meter team, consisting of the same squad as the 4x100-meter, placed fifth with a time of 3:28.
On the women's side, for the second year in a row, the 4x100-meter relay team, consisting of freshman Molly Scoles and sophomores Laura Knudson, Mariah Crumpler and Terra Zodrow, took home the gold, running a time of 47.61, beating the nearest team (Spokane) by nearly a whole second.
The 4x400-meter team, consisting of Scoles, Zodrow, Knudson and freshman Christa Collmer, also managed to place second at the meet (3:57).
The women's team won another two NWAACC titles including freshman thrower Tori Dixson's first place finish in the shot put (12.42-meters) and Zodrow's first place finish in the long jump (5.36-meters).
Other top performances include Scole's fourth place finish in the 200-meter, Knudson's third in the 400-meter, with Scoles coming in about a second behind in fifth (60.54), Collmer's second place finish in the 800-meter (2:19), Zodrow's third place in the 100-meter hurdles (14.98), freshman Mariah Delepierre's fourth in the triple jump (10,38-meters) and freshman thrower Kaitlin Doyle's third place finish in the discus (41.08-meters).
As a team, the Saints women placed third overall at 106 points, with Spokane winning at 201 points (their ninth consecutive NWAACC title).
On the men's side, the Saints placed fifth overall at 44 points, with Spokane winning again at 263.50 points (their eighth consecutive NWAACC title).
Hanke, who took the NWAACC title in the 400-meter hurdles (53.68), took the meet in a more relaxed fashion then you might expect from a NWAACC champion.
"Well first off my performance at NWAACC was just to have fun," Hanke said.
"I really enjoyed meeting up with some of my buddies from different schools and seeing how they were feeling to this meet and tell them how I was feeling and we all had the same mind set," said Hanke.
Hanke said meets are more "about having fun and not about who was going to win."
Asked what her highlights were of the meet, Scoles said the relay teams are what really stood out to her, especially since most of the relay teams would be running their last meet as Saints.
"To be a part of the 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams and working with those girls who were running their last race and being able to celebrate that with them and push myself and them, that was pretty exciting," she said.
In regards to the season as a whole, Scoles said, "It went by really fast. Results-wise, I did pretty much what I was working for. I'm just looking forward to next year.
Scoles said she will most likely be returning to MHCC and the team next year.
Though the women's team was strong this season, especially considering their limited number, many of the top performers are second year athletes, including Zodrow, and won't be on the team next year.
Hanke will be returning to MHCC next fall, although he will not be competing on the track and field team.
"I still got cross-country and I will be running unattached and become stronger, faster, and better so I can go off to a bigger college," said Hanke.
Asked where she will be next year in her athletic and educational career, Zodrow said, "I still don't know where yet, maybe Western Oregon (University) or Portland State (University)," though she said she will continue competing in track and field wherever she goes.
"It's kind of a bitter sweet moment leaving behind all my teammates who have become my best friends. But at the same time I'm excited to start something new and meet new people," said Zodrow.
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