McMinnville, OR - The opportunities to qualify for the NWAC Championships narrow with each passing week, but the Trojans took full advantage at the Linfield Open over the weekend, and several EvCC track and field athletes PR'd or solidified their spots at the Championship event on May 19th and 20th.
For the men, Charlie Roberts set a big 32 second PR in the 5000 meter race, placing 5th overall and moving him up to 14th on the NWAC performance list. Newcomer Jaquan Means posted his first marks of the season, running 16.18 in the 110 hurdles (12th in the NWAC) and 59.74 in the 400 hurdles (16th in the NWAC). Both times could be enough to qualify for NWAC's. Hector Mendoza ran his first steeple chase of the season, posting a time of 10:45.50. This was enough to win the race at Linfield and puts him 11th on the NWAC performance list. The 4x100 relay team of Ryan Cole, Jaquan Means, Anthoney Ray-Kirk, and Riel Villamena posted their best time of the season at 44.45 which is currently 9th in the NWAC. They will have one more opportunity at the Northwest Regional meet to break into the top 8 and qualify. Two other PR marks were Anthoney Ray-Kirk in the 400m and Brandon Bruss in the hammer throw. Both are on the outside looking in at qualifying but could still get in with strong peformances at the Nortwest Regionals.
The women got standout performances from Teagan Pentz, Reda Long, and Lily Rock. Pentz broke her 800m record by two seconds and moved up to 10th on the NWAC peformance list. She now has qualifying times in the 800m, 1,500m, and 5,000m races in addition to her spot on the 4x400m qualifying relay team. Lily Rock ran in her first 5000m race of the season and her time of 20:33.64 moves her up to 15th in the NWAC. This adds to the list of events she could qualify for (the 1,500m and the 10,000m race where she currently ranks 8th. Reda Long raced in her first 5000m race of the season and recorded a time of 19:09.08, shooting her all the way up to 4th on the NWAC rankings. Long is also ranked 8th in the 1,500m and 2nd in the 10,000m which is the highest ranking of any EvCC athlete this season. Amelia Koon PR'd in the 5000m race by 23 seconds and cracked the NWAC top 25 in that event. Her best opportunity to qualify at NWAC's will be the 10,000m race where earlier this season she posted a time of 46:49.67.
The Trojans have one more opportunity to prepare and qualify for the NWAC Championships at the Northwest Regionals hosted by Olympic College on May 11th. Competing teams will be Olympic, Green River, and Everett as well as a few athletes from Pierce College and Edmonds College.