Freshman breaks hammer record at Twilight meet

In a meet featuring the likes of American Olympic runner Andrew Wheating, the MHCC Saints track and field athletes was still able to grab numerous top finishes as well as posting a new school record at the John Knight Twilight Invite.

Freshman McKenzie Warren broke her own hammer throw record at the meet at Western Oregon University in Monmouth.

She threw for a new best of 48.46 meters, which gives her the lead in NWAACCs by more than 12 feet.

Warren also placed tenth in the shot put (11.42 meters).

“We anticipate she will end up breaking it a couple more times,” said head track and field coach Matt Hart.

“Other throwing records are not safe from her either, as she may challenge the records of shot put and the discus (again),” he said.

Among other highlights for the women’s team was freshman Kristi Kachel’s sixth-place finish in the 100-meters (13.34 seconds) and the women’s 4×400-meter relay team’s third-place finish as well as sophomore Tori Dixson’s ninth-place finish in the shot put (11.70-meters).

Kachel also placed eighth in the 200-meters (27.49 seconds) and fellow freshman Charlene Manning placed fifth in the women’s 100-meter hurdles (17.05 seconds).

In the women’s high jump, freshman Carrie Haguewood placed eighth with a jump 11.42 meters.

Both Dixson and Warren also placed in the top ten for the discus, placing sixth (43.95 meters) and ninth (37.08 meters), respectively.

On the track, sophomore Molly Scoles placed second in the 400-meter hurdles (1:06) and sophomore Christa Collmer also placed second in the 800-meter (2:17).

Collmer’s time in the 800-meters was good enough to put her on top of NWAACCs (she also leads the conference in the 1500-meter run).

According to Hart, this is Scoles’ first year running hurdle events and after her second race in the 400-meter hurdles at this meet, she now leads NWAACCs as well.

The men’s throwers had a solid effort at the meet, with a second-place finish in the javelin by MHCC record holder Tyler Callahan (63.92 meters), giving him the lead in NWAACCs by more than 10 feet, and freshman Quinton Cody placed eighth in the discus with a throw of 40.22 meters.

Sophomore sprinter LT Avants also placed seventh in the 400-meters, finishing with a time of 50.55 (which was only a little more than a second behind first place) and the men’s 4×100-meter relay team placed fourth with a time of 44.06 seconds.

Despite the team’s successes, many of the athletes have had to deal with some injury, especially ‘shin splints,’ since the beginning of the season.

“Shin splints are still present but people seem to be handling them more appropriately.  Often shin splints are a result of improper preparation for training,” said Hart.

“That being said, the old hard surface of our track is increasing the risk of shin splints along with other injuries,” said Hart.

“We have had two tibial stress fractures this year, which is rare compared to other years.  Our training is consistent with the training we have implemented for numerous NWAACC-leading performances in the past,” he said.

“The same training that has not yielded stress fractures before.  It is too coincidental that, as the surface of the track has aged and hardened, shin splint have increased seemingly every year and now we are confronted with stress fractures,” said Hart.

The track and field team has two upcoming meets, starting with the most local meet of the season, the Cougar Open at Clackamas Community College Saturday in Oregon City.

Less than a week after that, the Saints travel back to Eugene for the Titan Twilight meet at Lane Community College on April 26.