Whits Edged In Conference Meet

College track and field

Whitworth’s men came up just shy of winning the Northwest Confer- ence championships at George Fox University in Newberg, Ore.

Pacific Lutheran edged Whitworth 158-156 for the title in the nine-team field. Whitworth’s women scored 132 to place third, behind the host Bruins (168) and Linfield (137). Whitworth was in second place after Friday’s opening events.

The Pirates men made a hard charge on Saturday after starting the day in sixth place.

Speed was Whitworth’s game. Joel Robnett (10.93) won the 100-meter dash and placed second in the 200, while teammate Bryce McDonnell took the 200 (21.8) and placed second in the 100. Leo Suzuki added a win in the 400 (48.85), and the Pirates swept the 400 (41.72) and 1,600 (3:19.5) relays. The 400 time was a meet record, breaking the 41.94 that Whitworth set in 1984.

Whitworth’s Whit Spencer also won the javelin at 190 feet, 3 inches.

Helping PLU squeak by was male athlete of the meet Shipley Ennis, who won both hurdles, took second in the 400 and third in the pole vault. PLU also had a 13-0 scoring advantage in the 5,000, the next-to-last event.

Whitworth’s Danielle Swift won the javelin at 140-1. Also for the Pirates, Mindy Bandy placed second in the shot put (38-8) and Annie Scott took second in the 5,000 (18:06.43).

Washington State junior Agneta Rosenblad won the women’s high hurdles in a wind-aided, personal-best time of 13.59 at the four-team WSU Invitational.

Rosenblad, ranked 12th nationally in the long jump, also won that event at 19-4-3/4.

Idaho’s Joachim Olsen won the men’s shot put with an NCAA provisional qualifying throw of 60-2. Idaho’s Katja Schreiber won the women’s discus with an improved NCAA provisional mark of 173-0, and claimed the shot put at 46-11-3/4.

WSU’s Ian Waltz won the men’s discus at 195-0, and finished second in the shot at 59-7-3/4.

WSU’s Randi Smith captured the women’s 400 hurdles in 59.09, not near her 57.61 school-record time that is ranked seventh nationally.

Kurt Kraemer of Eastern Washington won the triple jump (50-8-3/4) and the long jump (23-6-1/4).

Colfax High graduate Laura Widman, competing for Seattle Pacific, won three events, placed second in another and added a third place at the Pacific West Conference championships in Monmouth, Ore.

Widman, one of the top contenders for the NCAA Division II heptathlon later this month, won the long jump (18-8-1/4), high jump (5-5-1/4) and 200 (25.41). She placed second in the 100 hurdles (14.93) and third in the shot put (40-11-3/4).