Saints lead NWAACCs in three events as regional meet approaches

With the final stretch of the track and field season rapidly approaching, the Saints capped off the regular season with over a dozen top five finishes at the Titan Twilight meet last Thursday.

At the meet, the Saints brought home three golds, including two first-place finishes by MHCC record holders freshman McKenzie Warren in the hammer throw, 49.15-meters, and sophomore Tyler Callahan in the javelin with a throw of 68.14-meters (beating the runnerup by more than 12 meters).

Sophomore Molly Scoles put up another gold in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing in 1:05.

On top of these finishes, the women’s 4×100-meter relay team placed second with a time of 50.68 seconds, and their male counterparts placed third in their relay with a time of 43.28.

Sophomore distance runner Christa Collmer placed second in the 1500-meters, crossing the finish in 4:50. In the women’s hurdles, freshman Charlene Manning placed fourth with a time of 15.77 seconds.

The Lady Saints also had a good showing in the javelin, with freshmen Megan Nelson placing second, 34.40 meters, and Lihau Perreira in fourth, 32.84 meters.

Warren also placed third in the shot put, 12.65 meters, with her upper classmen Tori Dixson coming in at fifth, 11.85 meters.

In the women’s jumps, freshman Carrie Haguewood was caught in a three-way tie for second, jumping for 1.52 meters.

In the men’s 400-meters, sophomore LT Avants had another strong showing, placing third overall with a time of 50.84, and freshman Cody Beierle placed third in the 800 meters, 1:58.

Next up, the Saints have the Oregon Twilight meet at the U of O (which is for qualified athletes only) today, and as the team enters its final stretch of the season with Southern Region Championships on May 11.

Heading into next week’s regional championship meet, the Saints have 11 of their athletes sitting in the top five for all of NWAACCs and three who occupy the top spot with Callahan in the javelin, Scoles in the 400-meter hurdles, and Warren in the hammer throw.

When it comes to quality over quantity though, the phrase can be a bit of an understatement for the women’s distance squad, which consists of solely Collmer.

Nonetheless, she is ranked third in all of NWAACCs in the 800-meter, second in the 1500-meter and fifth in the women’s 400-meter.

“(Collmer’s performance) is outstanding so far,” said distance coach Keith Maneval.

Asked what her chances were at winning NWAACCs in any of her events, Maneval said, “Very strong.”

Maneval said that the 800-meters, which is something Collmer has excelled in this year, was not something they focused on until later in the 2012 season. The event has since become a staple of Collmer’s success on top of her 1500-meter performances.

Following the Southern Region Championship meet, the NWAACC Championships will be held May 20 and 21 in Spokane.