Snodgrass Breaks 65-Year Discus Record

SALEM Ore. — Today Willamette hosted the Eldon & Chuck Throwdown, a dual meet against Lewis & Clark College to commemorate the intense rivalry between Eldon Fix and Chuck Bowles, who coached Lewis & Clark and Willamette Track & Field, respectively. A warm, sunny day with a slight breeze aided the Bearcats in a win against the River Otters for the men's team.

Beginning with Hammer Throw, Roan Bashioum and Austin Snodgrass claimed first and second for Willamette. In Shot Put, the men took second through fourth, with personal bests (PB) by Bashioum and Grant Sweitzer. Steeley Mucken threw 61.69 meters in Javelin to secure first place. Snodgrass outdistanced his competitors with an impressive throw of 51.15 meters (PB) in Discus, while Bashioum followed in second with 45.66 meters. With this throw, Snograss broke a 65-year-old school record.

In the jumps field events, Willamette swept first through third in High Jump, Davandre Campbell taking first at 1.92 meters; Carson Naehr and Finn Gibson followed in second and third. Elijah Jones claimed first place in Pole Vault at a height of 4.54 meters (SB). Isaiah Martushev took third while Teague Myers did not make the first height. In Triple Jump, Kaleb McArthur and Niko White took second and third place.

The opening track event was the 4x100m Relay. The Bearcat team comprised of Matthew Nivala, Dustin Harzmann, Major LeProwse, and White narrowly defeated the other Willamette relay to take first place. In the 1500m, Thomas Bernadicou narrowly defeated the runner from Lewis & Clark to win in 3:58.75 seconds (PB). Campbell led the pack in the 110m Hurdles, finishing in 14.81 seconds (PB) and followed by Nivala with a season best of his own. Second through fourth place was secured by Gibson, LeProwse, and Harzmann in the 400m. 

Mucken raced to first place in the 100m to earn first. Willamette also took second and fourth through eighth in the 100m. In the 800m, Willamette claimed the top three spots with Bernadicou in the lead, pursued by Tim McMahon and Liam Bergevin. Myles Crandall took second place in the 400m Hurdles, followed by Mason Williams. In the 200m race, the Bearcats secured the top three again, thanks to Owen Phillips, Nivala, and Cole Beneventi. In the 3000m Steeple Chase, Adam Lewis ran a personal best of 9:51.50 minutes to get second place, and Treyton Marty came in third.

In the 4x400m Relay, the team of Crandall, Gibson, Phillips and LeProwse dominated the race, maintaining their first-place position the whole time. The second-place team, also comprised of Bearcats, similarly kept their position the whole race. The third team faltered in the beginning, but secured fourth place by the end.

Next week are the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, as well as the Rich Allen Classic on March 14, in Newberg, Oregon.