WSU Standout Achieves A Pr With Her 159-11 Hammer Throw

Hammer throwers speak in terms of getting maximum radius, and it seems logical that great distances will be achieved only when one’s arms are extended fully before releasing the tethered 8-pound, 13-ounce ball skyward.

“If you add like an inch on your radius, it adds like 10 feet to your distance,” Washington State freshman Becky Potter said Saturday, and she would know.

A week after adding 10 feet to her best hammer mark, Potter tacked on another 8 feet during Saturday’s meet at chilly Mooberry Track, winning the event with a throw of 159 feet, 11 inches.

“I guess I’m finally getting the hang of what I’m doing,” said Potter, one of three Cougars competing in what is a new event for women. “I used to say I wanted to throw 160 (feet), but now I’m an inch away from that, so I guess the sky’s the limit.”

In a sport where triumphs are often measured in inches or tenths of a second, 18 feet seems like a mile.

“She has that feeling of radius and now that she’s got that, she’s unstoppable, I think,” WSU throws coach Deborah Lombardi said.

Potter also won the shot put (43-4-1/4) and was second to Utah State’s Jenifer Homer in the discus. Homer threw 155-11, but it was Potter who added 3 feet to her personal best, throwing 151-1.

Cold weather and high winds kept impressive performances to a minimum, as did the limited number of athletes sent by Utah State and Boise State.

The field was so limited, in fact, that the men’s triple jump became the man’s triple jump, with WSU’s Demetrius Murray the only competitor. Murray’s winning leap: 50 feet, 10 inches.

Among the highlights for WSU:

Freshman LaTroya Mucker overcame a painful ear infection to shave four-tenths of a second off her area-leading 400 time, winning in 54.56.

Sophomore thrower Ian Waltz, stuck in what for him qualifies as a slump, won the shot put with a throw of 60-1-1/4.

It was his first throw in the 60s since March 29, when he set personal best of 61-7 at the Cougar Invitational.

Waltz continued to struggle in the discus, however, and his 177-9 was good only for second place. BSU’s Jarred Rome threw 183-11.

“I’ve just been throwing since September and it’s kind of hard to keep up sometimes,” said Waltz, who has thrown 191-6 this season. “I’ll hopefully get it when it counts.”

Junior Jeff Lightheart clocked 10.79 to finish second in the 100 meters. The time was a season-best for Lightheart and within .05 seconds of qualifying for the Pacific-10 Conference Championships.

NCIC Championships

Whitworth’s Trina Gumm finished second in the javelin and the shot put at the Northwest Conference of Independent Colleges championships at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.

Gumm’s 38-10 in the shot trailed Linfield’s Jennifer Boyman (39-5-1/4). Gumm threw 129-6 in the javelin, won by George Fox’s Becci Harper (132-10).

Whitworth’s women scored 58 points to finish sixth among nine teams. Pacific Lutheran won with 216.

Whitworth’s men placed seventh (30 points) in the nine-team field topped by PLU (283.5). The Pirates’ best finishes were fifths: Ben Vaday in the 200 (22.98), Eric Swanson in the 400 hurdles (55.98) and the 400 relay team (43.83).

Bigfoot Open

Eastern Washington’s Seville Broussard won the women’s 400 hurdles (1:00.72) and the high jump (5-4) at Spokane Falls Community College.

Idaho’s Tami Steinbroner won the women’s 400 in 58.98. The Vandals’ Shane O’Brien won the men’s 800 in 1:51.21.

Eversley Linley, running unattached, won the men’s 100 (10.60) and 200 (20.94).

All-comers at Oregon

At Eugene, Oregon’s Micah Davis, of Mead High, finished second in the 1,500 in 3:51.32. John MacKay, running unattached, won in 3:48.56.

Oregon’s Rob Aubrey, also from Mead, was second in his 800 prelim in 1:55.42. Another Mead grad, Skiy DeTray of Lane (Ore.) Community College, was sixth in the 5,000 in 8:39.78.

Men’s golf

Big West Championships

Tyler Sullivan tied for 17th with a 10-over-par 226 for three rounds, and his University of Idaho team tied for eighth at Dayton Valley Country Club in Reno, Nev.

Ed Karvan added an 11-over 227, and Mychal Gordon and Neil Schnider finished at 15-over 231 for Idaho. The Vandals’ 43-over 907 tied Boise State for eighth.

Pacific won the team title with a 15-over 879, led by Florian Bruhns’ 5-under 211.

Men’s tennis

Big West Championships

Idaho defeated Pacific 6-0 to advance to today’s fifth-place match at Las Cruces, N.M.

In No. 1 singles, Danny Willman beat Rishi Patel 6-1, 6-2. Darin Currall and Keith Bradbury beat Patel and Paul Sauget 8-3 in No. 2 doubles.

Idaho plays Cal Poly today. Boise State and UC Santa Barbara meet for the title.

, DataTimes