EUGENE, OR– Griffen Parsells became the first Warrior this season to hit a national-qualify mark for outdoor nationals on Saturday with a strong run in the 800m. He highlighted the day for LC State Track and Field at the Oregon Preview in Eugene.
The day wrapped up a busy weekend with the Warriors split between the Bucs Scoring and Multi in Spokane and the Oregon Preview. LC State competed in rainy conditions throughout the weekend.
“Pretty rough conditions for both groups this weekend,” coach Mike Collins said. “We thought we might make it through today with no rain, but we still got hit with some moisture off and on. Although our performances when it came to actual marks were not what we were looking for, I was really pleased with our efforts and how competitive we were. We talked ahead of time about trying to take the adversity of the conditions and making the most of it to use it for improvement in the future, and I think we did a great job in taking that attitude. Looking forward to next week and some good weather and hopefully some good preparation over spring break to catapult into the heart of our season. Nice to see Griffen break the ice for us with our first national qualifier.”
THE MEN
Parsells hit the first national-qualifying mark of the outdoor season for LC State with a provisional mark in the 800m. He placed eighth in the field with a time of 1:51.99 and Kobe Wessels was 15th (1:53.89).
London Kirk won the 400m at the competitive meet with a time of 48.59 and Preston Cooper was 12th (50.20). Jordan Castillo finished 26th in the 100m (11.25).
The team of Cooper, Castillo, Trenton Johnson and Kirk just missed a qualifying time in the 4x400m relay. The group finished second overall with a time of 3:18.23.
“The 4x400m relay team will hit the mark soon,” Mike Collins said. “London winning the 400m in a big meet like this is a pretty big deal too. Lots of positives and we will work hard to build on them.”
THE WOMEN
Junior Emily Collins was in action in the 400m and 200m at the meet. The Lewiston local was seventh in the 400m (58.59) and 22nd in the 200m (26.47). Fellow Lewiston native Madigan Kelly placed sixth in the 100m hurdles with a time of 14.73.
“Emily had probably the best start of a 400m I’ve seen in two years,” Mike Collins said. “We just need to get some better conditioning at the end. Madigan looked good in her first race in the hurdles for outdoors since last year and, again, just some conditioning and getting back into the groove of the hurdles.”
Grace Tiegs finished 18th in the 800m with a time of 2:19.20. Sydnie Zywina was seventh in the long jump with a 5.45m leap.
“Sydnie’s speed looks great,” Mike Collins added. “We just need to make some adjustments in the jumps, and she will be back on top of it in no time.”
