FOREST GROVE, Ore. – Four school records, two on the women’s side and two on the men’s side, fell by the wayside on Saturday as the Northwest Christian University distance track teams competed in the Pacific University Twilight meet.
Brittany Arch led the way for the women, taking more than four seconds off of the 1500 meter school record, finishing at 4:53.11. She won her heat of the event and took eighth place overall. Head Coach Heike McNeil said, “Brittany was placed in the second heat which turned out to be unfortunate because she had to go all the way on her own. In a middle distance race, that makes a huge difference, and she could have placed much better and been faster in the first heat.”
Arch was also a part of another school record, teaming with
Deanna Lund,
Melissa Edwards and
Sierra Schorer Noll to set a new mark in the 4x400 meter relay event. The Beacons took second place in the event, running a 4:36.13.
On the men’s side,
Michael Bennett (pictured) once again broke the 800m record, running a 1:56.98. He has broken the record three times this season. The other men’s record to fall was in the 5,000 meter event, where
Sam Robison once again topped his own time with a 15:44. He has also broken that record three times this season.
Also putting on an impressive showing for the women was
Bethany Howard, setting a new PR in the 5000m run (18:12), winning the event by 28 seconds. Coach McNeil said, “Bethany had to work with a couple of young ladies who went out at very inconsistent pace so this was actually a very valuable experience for her in not letting someone else dictate her pace.”
More PRs were set for the women as well, including both Edwards (2:37.63) and Lund (2:38.26) in the 800m event and
Heather Bush in the 5000m (21:00).
For the men, personal records were set by
Benton Urquhart (1:59.26) and Kevin Whyte (2:13.26) in the 800m run and
Rob Rich (16:20) and Urquhart again (16:20) in the 5000m.
This was the last race for NCU before the Cascade Collegiate Conference championships begin at Mt. Hood Community College on May 13th. Nine athletes will compete in seven different events for the Beacons, the largest showing ever for Northwest Christian University.