By CHELSEA BRONN, staff reporter
The Wildcats are going to send a lot more athletes to the NCAA Division II Championship meet this year, compared to previous seasons.
Seven of Central Washington University’s top track and field athletes will be on their way to Pueblo, Colo., May 23-25.
Three of Central’s men’s track and field athletes clinched individual event titles last weekend in Monmouth, Ore. at the 2013 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championship meet.
The men’s team received a second place finish last weekend, while the women’s team placed in the top 10 at the meet.
Senior Bryan Mack took first place in the long jump at 23 feet, four inches. Mack also placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 10.85 seconds.
“The second day of GNAC’s was a struggle,” Mack said. “I was exhausted.”
Mack received third place in the triple jump with a jump of 46 feet, 6.25 inches.
“The triple jump was terrible,” Mack said. “Unfortunately it’s the last event I do, once I finally got there I had nothing left in the tank.”
Mack will be heading to Pueblo for the championship in the triple jump.
“I ended up being able to do what my coaches needed me to do,” Mack said, “in order to score the amount of points we needed.”
Freshman Troy Martin and junior Quinton Agostaboth placed first in throwing events. Martin threw 160 feet, eight inches in the discuss leading to his first place finish. Martin also placed in the top five in the shot put.
Agosta threw 185 feet, 11 inches in the hammer throw, and was able to place within the top 10 of the shot put competitors.
By the end of the two-day-long meet on May 10 and 11, the men’s team had racked up a final score of 135 points, putting the men in second place behind rival Western Washington University.
Some other teammates who helped the team reach its second place standing were senior AndrewVenema, who placed second in the men’s 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.72 seconds, and senior Brennan Boyes, who placed second in the high jump with a 6-foot-5 inch jump.
The Central women finished in seventh place with 61.5 points. The women’s top athlete for the weekend was junior thrower Becki Duhamel, who placed second in both the hammer throw and discus, and took third in the shot put.
Senior Jamie Larson also helped the Wildcats, with a second place finish in the pole vault with a vault of 11 feet, 8.5 inches.
The regular season has come to a close, but for a top group of seven Central athletes, the journey is not yet over.
These athletes have either met the provisional standards or have automatically qualified for the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field National Championships. The top seven athletes include senior Braden Keller, senior Bryan Mack, and junior Quinton Agosta on the men’s side. Senior KelseyKreft, senior Jamie Larson, junior Becki Duhamel, and sophomore Tayler Fettig qualified on the women’s side.
