On Your Mark, Get Set, GOOOOO!
During their short indoor season, Pacific Track and Field set an impressive 11 school records—and, with the start of the outdoor season, the team traveled to Linfield to continue that hot streak, although the weather was anything but, as the team ran in hail, snow, rain, and 20 mph winds.
“I think there are a lot of people who worked very hard in the fall to now, and it’s just a completely different feeling this year,” explained Senior 400 hurdler Emily Rutkowski. “Many people are hungry to do better and get new PRs.”
At the most recent indoor meet, Rutkowski, Annie Berry and Angelica Gatica Gomez all set school records in the George Fox indoor meet. Placing third overall in the women’s mile, Berry set the new school record of 5:11:17. Rutkowski finished second place in the women’s 400m with a time of 59.79; now Pacific’s new school record. And, Gatica-Gomez placed third overall, beating her own school record in the 400m of 1:00:31 by running a 59.82.
The first outdoor meet at Linfield was not quite as successful in terms of school and personal records, but the performance was still robust. Most notably, the weather was a factor.
“We knew going into this meet that there was going to be bad weather, and it was still very hard to get warm,” explained Rutkowski. “It was like your classic rust buster outdoor meet.”
Despite the cold, the Boxers performed well in their respective events, with 11 qualifying for the Northwest Conference Championships (six runners and five field individuals). While others were off their PRs, it is expected that in the coming weeks, more Boxers will warm up and loosen up their legs, and hit the qualifying marks for the big dance at the end of April.
On Friday night, three Boxers qualified for the conference in the 10k: Cris Brethower 38:28.01, Alena Krul 39:13.19, and Reese Yamamoto 33:27.66. On Saturday, three sprinted through the qualifying marks: Ally Hammon in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.83, Gatica-Gomez 26.76, and Berry in the 1500 in 4:49.13. In field events qualifying marks, Ryan Miller jumped 6.61m, Jonnette Singh triple jumped with a mark of 9.78 m, Makayla Kraemer pole vaulted 3.05m, Jayden Fordham long jumped 12.55 m, and Lucas Dahl long jumped 6.46.
“For the first outdoor meet of the season, I think everyone showed up and did well,” explained Rutkowski. “I know how much this team can do when we show up, so I am super excited for this season and less rain and more shine.”
Next up for the Boxers is George Fox for the Rich Allen meet on March 16.
Leave a Reply