LA GRANDE, Ore. – The 2023 Cascade Conference Track and Field Championships, presented by U.S. Bank, kick off in La Grande, Ore., on Friday. LC State Track and Field has competitors in nearly every event, and the men open the two-day meet with 20 points thanks to the decathlon performances of Christian Bothwell, Justin Krabbenhoft and Caleb Moore. The trio gave the men’s team a head start with their top-five finishes, including Bothwell’s win, at the CCC Mutlis in April.
MEN’S TRACK
The Warriors are the top seed in the 4x400m with Ike Hopper, London Kirk, Krabbenhoft and Carter Gordon. LC is seeded fourth in the 4x100m relay with Jedidiah Barnaby, Kirk, Jordan Castillo and Krabbenhoft slated to run. Kirk is also the top seed in the 400m.
LC State enters the meet with a talented group of 800m runners, led by Griffen Parsells as the top overall seed after hitting an A standard with a time of 1:51.93. Gordon is eighth, Conner May ranks 13th, Kobe Wessels is 14th and Cooper Carlson is seeded 15th.
Hopper ranks fourth in the CCC in the 110m hurdles with Bothwell fifth, Moore seventh and Ian Gardom eighth. Hopper is the top seed in the 400m hurdles followed by Bothwell in fifth and Brycen Brown in ninth.
Distance runners Brycen Kemtpon, Connor Turpin and Connor Alexander will race the 5,000m on Friday with Kempton leading the way at the No. 5 seed. Turpin is seeded seventh and Alexander is 15th. Kempton is ranked 14th in the 5,000m and freshman Clay Shumaker will join him as the 17-seed.
Freshman Barnaby is ranked sixth in the 100m dash having just run a sub-11.00 race for the first time in his career (10.99). Castillo is seeded 10th and Tanner Sibert is 21st. The trio, along with Kirk, will compete in the 200m. Kirk is the highest-seeded Warrior in third, Castillo is seventh, Barnaby is ninth and Sibert is 18th.
Brown will be the first men’s runner on the track for LC as the eight-seed in the 3,000m steeplechase. Freshman Wessels is seeded eighth in the 1,500m to lead a group of three LC State runners. Parsells is ninth and May is 16th.
MEN’S FIELD
Senior Nikolous Bertling is tied for the top seed in the pole vault after clearing a height of 4.80m to punch his ticket to nationals. Multi athletes Bothwell and Moore also rank in the top-10 at sixth and seventh, respectively. Zayne Maughan is seeded eighth.
Krabbenhoft is the top-seeded Warrior in the long jump in second and fellow multi-athlete Bothwell is eighth. Freshman Trenton Johnson enters his first conference meet ranked 12th in the event. Krabbenhoft is fourth in the high jump, followed by Braden Wuthrich in sixth, Bothwell in ninth, Moore in 14th and Gardom in 16th. Johnson will also compete in the triple jump, the event in which he holds the LC State record and is seeded third in the CCC.
A group of throwers will be the first LC State men to compete this weekend when the hammer throw begins at 3 p.m. on Friday. Senior Jaycob Atencio leads the group ranked fourth in the CCC while Jon Wattles is 12th, Jack Hardee is 16th and Tanner Beltz-Childs is 17th.
Freshman Sam Weller, who recently shattered the school record in the shot put, is ranked fifth in the CCC ahead of the conference meet. Moore is 17th. Wattles is the No. 10 seed in the discus.
WOMEN’S TRACK
LC State is the top seed in the 4x400m relay with Anika Grogan, Sara Hathaway, Geraldin Correa and Emily Collins in the mix. The 4x100m relay is seeded fourth with the all-Lewiston team of Grogan, Collins, Jennah Carpenter and Madigan Kelly slated to run in the race. Grogan, Kelly and Collins will also represent LC in the 200m with Grogan seeded second, Kelly fifth and Collins ninth.
Kelly will enter the 100m hurdles as the top overall seed. 400m hurdle champion Ashley Britt is ranked fifth at the shorter distance and Carpenter is 11th. Kelly is the lone Warrior in action in the 100m dash seeded seventh.
Britt is the top seed in the 400m hurdles and has already punched her ticket to nationals in the event. Hathaway is ranked third in the event, Dalli Elison is sixth and Keelyn Pilcher is 16th.
Collins is ranked second in the 400m heading into her first conference meet and Grogan is third. Distance runner Correa tested the waters in the event and qualified as the fifth-seed, and Elison is ranked 17th.
Freshman Grace Dixon will be the first Warrior to compete in a running event this weekend with her conference debut in the 3,000m steeplechase. She is seeded seventh.
In another distance event, junior Brooklyn Shell is the top Warrior seeded in the 1,500m at ninth. Grace Tiegs is 14th and Dixon is 20th in what will be her first attempt at the distance.
Correa leads three Warrior women in the 800m as the six-seed. Tiegs ranks 14th and Shell is 17th.
Newcomer Chloe Overberg is ranked in the top 10 in both the 5,000m and 10,000m runs. She will race the 5,000m on Friday and 10,000m on Saturday.
WOMEN’S FIELD
Defending indoor National Champion Carpenter is tied for the top seed in the high jump after missing most of the outdoor season due to injury. The sophomore cleared a national-qualifying mark in her first meet back this spring. Freshman Emma Harless is seeded sixth.
Sydnie Zywina enters the triple jump seeded third in the conference after her school-record 11.42m leap last weekend. Alexa Horsley is ranked eighth.
In the pole vault, Cynthia Smith is ranked third, with Emberlynn Mack (sixth) and Desiree Winslow (seventh) not far behind.
Kea Stieglitz just missed all-conference marks in the javelin last season, but made up for it with an All-American finish at nationals. She is ranked seventh heading into the conference meet.
Cassidy Henderson and Grace Osborne get the weekend started for the Warriors in the hammer throw. Henderson is seeded 14th in the event and Osborne is 19th. Freshman Osborne will also be in action in the shot put (14th seed) and discus throw (third seed).
