Promising season in store for Saints track team

The Saints track and field squad is looking at one of the most promising seasons in recent years, on both the men’s and women’s sides.

Last year, the women finished fourth place at the NWAC championships, while the men’s team finished seventh.

This year, a seasoned group of veterans looks to join forces with young talent and improve on both sides in the NWAC title meet, held in late May.

On the men’s side, the Saints return many key players. Tyler Jackson headlines the throwing events, Devon Larson is returning in the hurdles, Brandon Raleigh leads the distance runs, and Janaree Porter takes on the sprints.  The leadership of these athletes, along with team captain and pole-vaulter Josh Visan, will be important to Mt. Hood’s success.

These sophomores will be joined by some talented freshmen. Joshua Turner, who holds a PR (personal record) in the 110-meter hurdles of 14.91 seconds, leads the freshmen. Jon Horn looks to score some big points in the javelin, now holding a few 182-foot throws. Jonathan Zacarias-Hernandez and Jacob Barnett look to create depth in the middle-distance events, both primarily running the 800 meters.

The women’s team doesn’t have a very deep roster, but all the big names are there.

Sophomore captain and hurdler-jumper Courtney Andre joins javelin thrower Rachel Woodcock, distance veterans Haley McDonald and Emily Trosino, and sprinter Shanice Lakes – all who are looking to improve on last year’s solid season. They are boosted by distance running phenom Georgia Glovatsky, hurdler Madi Greenleaf, and sprinter Margaret Paul.

All the Saints jumped into the season at Linfield College’s Erik Anderson Icebreaker, held last Saturday in McMinnville. The meet featured a range of competition from both four-year and two-year programs.

In the sprints, Porter ran the 100 meters, taking seventh with a time of 11.25 seconds. In her first race since 2013, Paul won the 100 by .08 seconds, with a time of 12.58 seconds. She came back later to take third in the 200 meter race with a time of 26.08. Lakes ran the 400, taking second by .02 seconds with a time of 57.99.

There was a strong showing from the hurdles squad, as all hurdlers finished in the top eight in their races.

Turner doubled in the 110 hurdles and the 400 hurdles. He took third in the 110, with a time of 15.72 seconds, and sixth in the 400, at 57.77. Andre ran three events: the 100 hurdles, 400 hurdles, and the 100 meter dash. She took third in both the 100 hurdles, with a time of 15.58, and in the 400 hurdles with a 1:05.7 mark. She also took seventh in the 100 meters, at 13.19 seconds.

Greenleaf also ran the 100 hurdles, taking seventh at 16.33 seconds. She also ran the 800 meters, taking 10th with a strong time of 2:27.47.

Jackson led the throwers with a second-place finish in the shot put. He improved on his marks from last year with a throw of 47 feet, 10 inches in the fifth round. He also took 12th in the discus, throwing 127 feet, 5 inches. Horn just missed his PR in the javelin, throwing 182 feet, 4 inches in the third round to grab sixth. Rachel Woodcock threw the javelin 124 feet, 1 inch to take seventh.

In the distance events, Glovatsky ran a solid 5,000 meter run, finishing second in 17:51.00. Trosino and McDonald both placed in the 3,000 meter steeplechase. McDonald took sixth in 12:51.15, and Trosino took fourth in 12:13.62, the latter only 1.64 seconds off McDonald’s school record. Raleigh ran a gutsy 1500 meter race, but fell to seventh with a time of 4:05.51.

When asked to talk about the star athletes on the squad, Saints head coach Doug Bowman said, “You have to go down the entire roster. That’s rare to have that, and it (was proved) Saturday. Everybody stepped up and did what they have to do.”

“We have a lot of freshmen, but they are dedicated to putting in the work to improve their times and distances,” Andre said. “We showed a lot of people in our conference at this last meet we are different and a lot stronger” than in 2014, she said.

The Saints are home on Saturday for the Saints Open at Earl Klapstein Stadium. The meet will include NWAC, NAIA, and NCAA program athletes. Both track events and field events are set to begin at 10 a.m.