Spokane Standard

It’s official, the grind of the track and field season is here. After an extensive and successful indoor track season, and now six straight weeks of outdoor meets, the half way point of the season has arrived. The NWAC conference championships are six weeks away and the team now enters the time of year that it takes to make championships a reality.

The drive shifted into gear on Friday on the Boppell Track at Whitworth University. Once again, nature had a hand in the outcome of many events with the gusty winds presenting an obstacle. In true gritty Sasquatch fashion, the teams rose to meet the challenge.

Two newcomers led the way with impressive results. Rodrick Fisher made his collegiate debut in fine style anchoring the men’s 4x100-meter relay to victory against a stacked field of NCAA programs in a season best time of 42.79.

Fisher teamed with Jon Watkins, Jake Schnatter, and Preston Dyess to achieve the fast one-lapper. Forty-five minutes later, Fisher sped to a quick opening season time in the men’s 100-meter, finishing in fourth place overall. The relay ranks number two on the conference list, while Fisher’s 100-meter time has him at number three.

Three-sport star Maddie Gebers also made a big impact in her first meet of the season in the women’s javelin throw with a huge opening throw of 141 feet and 10.75 inches, good for the eighth best throw in school history. Gebers finished in third place overall and is currently the conference leader by eleven feet in the event.

Kaidyn Johnson and Gideon Swanson highlighted the distance runners for the Sasquatch. Johnson continued her fantastic season with another personal best, this time running ten seconds faster in the 5K with a 19:27.81, good for the third best time in the conference.

Swanson followed that up with a 15-second personal best to dip under 16 minutes for the first time, running 15:56.63, good for the seventh best time in the conference. Anthony Carlascio also had an outdoor best in the men’s 5K, running the sixth best time in the conference in a solid 15:33.15. Charlotte Falstad continues to run strong in the 400-meter, setting a new personal best running 1:06.36, ranking seventh in the NWAC.

In the sprints and hurdle events, Preston Dyess added a great 200-meter with a new personal best running 23.19. Kiley Cutler had a great meet with a big season best of 16.77 in the 100-meter hurdles and took another second off her 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:06.54, which puts her second in the conference. Teammate, Miranda Irwin recorded two season bests as well in the hurdles, running 17.05 in the 100-meter hurdles and then 1:10.80 in the 400-meter hurdles, currently good for the fifth best mark in the conference.

In the throwing and jumping events, multiple athletes hit season bests and showed continued improvement on the road to the championships. Bradley Fillis placed third overall in the men’s shot put and then backed that up with an eighth place finish in the hammer throw.

Reise Raymond added a fifth place finish in the men’s javelin throw with a new personal and season best of 157 feet and 1 inch, currently ranking him in sixth place in the conference. This gives the javelin crew four throwers ranked inside the top 10 in this event. Newcomer, Sam Emigh made her debut in the hammer throw recording a toss of 74 feet and 3 inches, and then throwing a season best in the shot put with a mark of 29 feet and 11.50 inches.

Jaxson Nichols equaled his season best in the men’s high jump clearing 6 feet and 2 inches, Isaiah Cunningham also has his best jump of the year in the men’s long jump leaping out to 20 feet and 4.5 inches, Blodah Flumo went 19 feet and 9 inches for his best jump of the season, and leading long jumper Jake Schnatter was close to his best of the year leading the team with a solid jump of 21 feet and 4 inches.

Coaches were very pleased with so many solid marks under the conditions and continue to emphasize our toughness and ability to compete at a high level against some of the best teams in the Pacific Northwest.

Up next, another meet at Whitworth on Thursday, April 14th beginning in the late afternoon.

Original source can be found here.