LA GRANDE, Ore. – Three LC State heptathletes and the men’s 4x800m relay opened competition at the EOU NAIA Last Chance Invite on Friday in La Grande, and the Warriors found success quickly to open the weekend. All three heptathletes hit personal-bests in at least two events, and the relay team set a program record and likely punched a ticket to nationals.
“Great first day in La Grande,” Head Coach Mike Collins said. “The men’s 4x800m relay went out and really ran well. The multi-event guys are doing extremely well with some personal-bests. Justin (Krabbenhoft) and Christian (Bothwell) look to be improving their marks to potentially get into the top 16, and Caleb (Moore) is right behind them. Excited about tomorrow and the rest of the team competing as we go.”
The men’s 4x800m relay team of Kobe Wessels, Cooper Carlson, Conner May and Carter Gordon ran a time of 7:53.74 on EOU’s 175m track to set an LC record in the event. The time will have to go through a conversion process with the track being shorter than standard, but the mark should be a qualifying standard for the group. The team edged EOU’s 4x800m relay team to win the event.
After the first four events of the heptathlon, freshman Justin Krabbenhoft leads the four-man field with 2,768 points. He won the 60m dash (7.19), long jump (6.47m) and high jump (1.92m) with all three marks tying or setting personal-bests. Caleb Moore, who sits fourth with 2.457 points, won the shot put with a personal-best throw of 11.89m.
Christian Bothwell PRed in the shot put (11.48m) and high jump (1.83m) and is currently in second place with 2,604 points. The heptathlon will conclude with the final three events on Saturday.
UP NEXT
The Warriors close out the regular season on Saturday at the EOU NAIA Last Chance Invite.
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