MT. HOOD SAINTS FINISH STRONG

The Saints put their talents to the limit against the best in the NWAC Track and Field Championship meet, held at Mt. Hood on Monday-Tuesday.

Several Saints athletes competed, hoping to improve their personal record, achieve that season-long goal they set for themselves, or simply be able to place and wind up on the winners’ podium for their event. And with such a young team this year, the MHCC athletes battled with nerves and excitement, but showed they were ready to perform.

Saints women shine

First up, the women’s team, which really had a little bit of everything.

Therese Nahimana took part in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, and though she didn’t place in the top three (for All-American honors), its safe to say that she had a good performance. She PR’d (set a personal record) not only in the preliminary stage, but then bested that in the finals, on Day 2. She entered the meet with a season best of 1:07.57 minutes, got third in the prelims with a time of 1:06.63, and finished in the finals with time of 1:06.24, good for seventh place.

In that same fashion, Taylor Presley ran her season best in the prelims of the 100-meters with a time of 12:82 seconds. It was enough to take her to the finals, where she also finished seventh.

An outstanding athlete to watch was dual-sport competitor Makenzie Smith. She was part of this year’s successful Saints women’s basketball team which reached the NWAC playoffs for the first time in years. Then, the 5-foot, 8-inch point guard took part in the women’s high jump where she was came just shy of Achieving All-American honors. She finished with a jump of 1.55 meters, which was good for a tie for fourth place.

Those who did get All-American honors were sophomore Erica Veltkamp in the 10,000-meter race and freshman Grace Buchanan in the javelin. Veltkamp also participated in the 5,000-meter race where she wasn’t too happy as she didn’t run as well as she would’ve wanted. She did have a great 10k, where she PR’d with a time of 41:54 minutes (breaking her previous PR of 42:09) which had her finish in third.

Buchanan also did well in the javelin. Though she didn’t PR, she finished with a throw of 128 feet, 6 inches, good enough for second.

In all, member of the Mt. Hood women’s team showed great heart and pride during this championship meet.

Men’s highlights

On the men’s side, there were also strong finishes.

Mt. Hood freshman sprinter Michael Botchway took part in the men’s 100-meter race. He had a great prelim run, where he finally broke under 11 seconds, a season goal. He finished with a time of 10:99, but there was a bit of confusion, as he was initially posted as finishing seventh, with a much slower time. He huddled with MHCC co-coach Fernando Fantroy and they got it straightened out with meet officials – and that’s when  he got the good news, that he’d broken 11 seconds.

Botchway also ran in the 200-meter dash which he again got another personal best of 22.25 seconds. But his Day 1 success affected him the next day in the finals, where he finished sixth in the 100m and seventh in the 200m.

Freshman Tayton LaPointe had an unbelievable performance in the 800-meter final, which Fantroy called his highlight of the championship meet. With 200 meters remaining and being in fifth place, LaPointe pushed himself to third, with a season best of 1:57.08 minutes. LaPointe had only run in five meets this season, due to hip and foot injuries and just last week at the Lewis and Clark College Twilight Meet, he was disappointed with a 2:09, which by his standards was not acceptable. It was truly admirable how the Clackamas High School graduate finished strong at the NWACs and obtained All-American honors.

Another Saint who left it all on the track was freshman Austin Dewolfe, who finished third in the 110-meter hurdles with All-American honors. He also ran an incredible 400-meter hurdle race, where he was leading over the last 39 meters but got edged out right at the finish by Spokane’s Austin Albertin. It was a great finish that had everyone in the MHCC stands up on their feet, wondering who had won.

Overall, the Saints had strong performances in the NWACs, full of season bests, All-American honors, and achieving season-long goals.

The good news is that most of them are freshmen, who will be returning next year much stronger. The Saints’ season motto was ‘FINISH STRONG’ and Fantroy already has a new motto in mind for next season: “We’re ‘RAISING THE BAR’!”