By Elliot Boswell
It was a banner day for the track squad last Tuesday, as three Pilots broke the school record in the 3000-meter steeplechase at the Willamette Invitational in Salem, Ore., with other Portland competitors placing high in their respective events as well.
The Willamette Invitational came hot on the heels of the Stanford Invitational on April 1, another hugely successful event for the University track team.
In Palo Alto, Calif., freshman Dana Morgan won her section of the 5000 meters in 16:38.11, the fifth-fastest time in school history. In the same event, junior Amie Dahnke notched the seventh-fastest time with a 17:02.56 and senior Kristen Rohde grabbed the 11th-fastest time with 17:15.55.
Morgan's time, a personal best, qualified her for the NCAA Regional meet next month."As a group, those were perhaps the best big-meet performances we've ever had," women's Head Coach Ian Solof said in a post-meet press release. "Not only did every single person run well, but to win two distance races and have three 5k times crack the top 11 in school history is amazing."
In Salem, freshman Natalie Hemphill took the tape in the steeplechase with a blistering time of 11:04.89, while sophomore Adrienne Nova timed in at 11:09.40, good for third place, and freshman Megan Smith in fourth place with a time of 11:22.05. Hemphill's time was over 20 seconds faster than the previous University record of 11:25.50, set by Hannah Coombe in 2003.
Other top women's scores included freshman Cori Moore, who won the 1500 meters with a time of 4:36.91, good enough to tie for tenth on UP's all-time list for the event; sophomore Allison Richie with a personal best 17:12.28 and third place in the 5000 meters; and freshman Christa Haluck, who was Portland's top finisher in both the 100-meter hurdles and the triple jump. Richie's time placed her as 9th on the University's all-time list.
In men's competition, junior John Moore won the 5000 meters by clocking in 14:12.61, almost six seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, Nick Scheutze of Team XO. Scheutze, a University of Portland graduate student in the education program, finished with a time of 14:18:14, a personal best.
The University continued its long-distance domination with the 10,000-meter race, when junior Rob Schlegel took first place with a time of 32:02.27 and junior Colin Longmuir finished close behind with 32:04.95. In the 1500-meter race, senior Chuck McKenzie placed second with a time of 3:48.98, closely followed by fellow senior Matt Sheeks in third with 3:50.23. Both McKenzie and Sheeks' times were respective personal bests.
Junior Danny Cosgrove excelled in field competition, placing fifth in the triple jump with a 12.8-meter leap.
In their next competition, the men's team heads down to Palo Alto on April 29 to compete in the Stanford Invitational.
