MOSCOW – Warrior Track and Field started the weekend with strong numbers at the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open on Friday. Both Jennah Carpenter in the pentathlon and Sydnie Zywina in the long jump put themselves in a strong position to compete at the national meet, with Zywina doing so in record-setting fashion.
Christian Bothwell competed in the first half of his first multi of the season and will wrap up his seven-event heptathlon on Saturday. The Warriors saw multiple personal records throughout the day.
“Encouraged after the first day of competition,” Head Coach Mike Collins said. “Jennah started well and her mark should keep her in the top 16 for the multi. First meet of the year and to start that way says a lot about our prep over break. Will be interesting to see how Christian finishes out the second day of the heptathlon. Some up and downs, and mostly it shows that we have not been able to get some sport-specific skill training in due to the weather, so regardless of the outcome, competing today will have been good for all of our skill events.”
Orofino native Zywina was outstanding in the long jump with the best mark in program history.
“I think most exciting for the day was Syd in the long jump, setting a school record and hitting a national qualifying mark,” Collins said. “Really just now getting into the long jump, so it will be additionally exciting to see how that translates to the triple tomorrow.”
THE WOMEN
Zywina dominated in the first long jump attempt of her career. The LC State record-holder in the triple jump smashed the long jump record with a mark of 5.52m, besting the previous best mark of 5.38m. Zywina finished third in the event and earned a provisional mark for nationals.
Carpenter opened the weekend with a strong showing in the five-event pentathlon. The junior, who was an All-American in the combined event last season, totaled 3,296 points to finish fifth in the field. She won the high jump portion with an automatic-qualifying mark (1.68m), and tied her personal-best to finish second in the long jump (5.29m). Her total has her in the top 10 of the NAIA.
Emily Collins ran a PR in the 200m dash with a time of 25.96 to improve her fourth-ranked time in the Warrior records. Macey Gunderson ran a time of 28.16.
In distance events, Grace Tiegs led a group of Warrior women in the mile with a personal-best time of 5:22.27. She placed 20th with Brooklyn Shell just behind in 22nd (5:23.30) and Aubree Williams in 24th (5:25.74). Kristen Thomas was 37th (6:11.77). Abigail Peightal was the top LC State finisher in the 3,000m in 19th (11:01.58) and Abigail Gorton was 29th (11:28.45).
In her collegiate weight throw debut, Haylee Appleford threw to a distance of 10.05m.
THE MEN
Bothwell sits eighth in the heptathlon with 2,521 points after the first four events. The senior had a PR in the shot put (12.08m) where he placed fourth. He was also fourth in the long jump (6.42m). The seven-event heptathlon wraps up on Saturday with the 60m hurdles, pole vault and 1,000m.
A pair of LC State sprinters set personal-bests in the 200m. Jedidiah Barnaby led the trio with a time of 22.35 to finish 11th, and Jordan Castillo (22.44) and Preston Cooper (22.55) each ran personal-bests to sit third and fourth in the LC State record book, respectively.
Clay Shumaker led the LC men in distance events with a 19th-place finish in the 3,000m run (9:01.30). Connor Alexander ran a PR of 9:03.07 to place 21st, Brycen Brown was 27th (9:07.48) and Alexander Fry finished 29th (9:10.01). Freshman Keith Uitdewilligen placed 31st (9:15.46) and Luke Sellmann was 38th (9:50.90). In the mile, Tristin O’Brien ran a personal-best time of 4:38.84 to finish 22nd.
Tanner Beltz-Childs was 19th in the weight throw (11.11m) and Zayne Maughan placed 14th in the pole vault (4.18m).
“Our sprinters also showed well with a few new indoor personal bests and updates to the record book,” Collins added. “Up and down day for the middle and long distances. In general, I thought we would be better, but I know we will bounce and hopefully it will be a good bounce heading into next week. Still another day of competing for most, so will see if we can add some more national qualifier marks and school records tomorrow.”
UP NEXT
The Warriors wrap up the Lauren McCluskey Memorial Open in Moscow on Saturday.
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