Bearcats Win Seven Men's Events, Four Women's Events at NWC Championships

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

McMINNVILLE, ORE. -- The Willamette University track and field teams concluded the 2011 Northwest Conference Championships on Saturday, April 23, as the Bearcats finished with seven individual men's titles and four individual women's titles. Willamette placed second in the men's team standings and also took second in the women's team standings.

Leo Castillo (Jr., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS) of Willamette, who won the 5,000-meter run in 15:08.80 and the 10,000-meter run in 31:17.13, was chosen Men's Track Athlete of the Meet.

Kimber Mattox (Jr., Bend, OR/Bend HS/Cornell Univ.), who won three events for the Bearcats, was named Women's Track Athlete of the Meet. Mattox won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 10:43.26, the 1,500-meter run at 4:35.14 (new NCAA provisional qualifying time) and the 5,000-meter run in 17:39.25.

The Bearcats earned four of their men's individual championships and three of the women's championships on Saturday.

Paul Winger (Jr., Bonney Lake, WA/Bonney Lake HS) won two men's events, as he placed first in the 200-meter dash and the 400-meter dash. It is the second year in a row that Winger has been a double winner in the 200 and the 400. In addition, he won the 400 as a freshman in 2009.

Winger's victory in the 200-meter dash was achieved in a very close finish. His winning time was 22.86 seconds. Isaac Moog and I.V. Reeves, both from Pacific Lutheran University, tied for second at 22.89 seconds, just 0.03 off Winger's pace. Elorm Atisu of Whitworth University placed fourth at 22.90 and Nicholas Meyers-Turner of Linfield College was fifth at 22.99. Winger won the 400-meter dash in 49.39 seconds.

Castillo's triumph in the 5,000 was on Saturday. He gained an edge with his kick, as he finished 2.75 seconds in front of Trevor Berrian (15:11.55) of Whitworth. Stefan Redfield (Sr., Sisters, OR/Sisters HS) of Willamette was third in 15:20.50.

Redfield also garnered a first place finish for the Bearcats. He won the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:54.20. He led a 1-3-4-7 finish by the Bearcats. Ryan McLaughlin (Sr., Milwaukie, OR/Milwaukie HS) was third at 3:57.43, as he reached the finish line 0.25 behind Steven Acosta of Whitworth, who placed second at 3:57.18. Nicholas Rebol (Sr., Cottonwood, CA/Red Bluff Union HS) took fourth at 3:59.64.

Mattox complete her trio of victories with two wins on the second day of the meet. Her NCAA provisional qualifying time of 4:35.14 in the 1,500 was the first for her in that event this season. She also won the 5,000 on Saturday, running with Joy Shufeldt of Whitworth for most of the race, before pulling away during the final lap. Shufeldt took second in 17:49.02.

Mattox now has qualified for the NCAA Division III Championships automatically in the steeplechase (10:23.34 at Mt. SAC Relays) and provisionally in the 1,500 and the 5,000 (17:10.28 at the Willamette Invitational).

Jaela Dinsmore (Jr., Hines, OR/Burns HS) won the title for Willamette in the women's 400-meter dash. She registered a personal record time of 57.50 seconds and finished 0.20 away from the NCAA provisional standard of 57.30. Cheyenne Feliz of Lewis & Clark College was second in 57.97 seconds.

Dinsmore missed a chance to win the 200-meter dash when she suffered an injury during the finals. Despite the injury, she finished the race and took eighth place. Dinsmore had the top qualifying time in the preliminaries at 25.93 seconds.

Winning NWC championships for the Bearcats prior to Saturday were Castillo, Ben Donovan (Jr., Minneapolis, MN/South HS) and Evin Colignon (Sr., Poulsbo, WA/Charles Wright Academy) for the men's team and Mattox for the women's team.

Colignon took first place in the decathlon with an NCAA provisional qualifying score of 6,419 points at the NWC Multi-Events Championships on April 11-12. On Friday, Castillo won the 10,000 and Donovan finished first in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase in 9:22.17. Also on Friday, Mattox won the women's steeplechase for the third year in a row.

Overall, Mattox has attained seven NWC championships. In addition to her three titles in the steeplechase, she has won the 1,500 twice (2010, 2011) and the 5,000 twice (2009, 2011).

Willamette senior Steven Collins (Zillah, WA/Zillah HS) recorded a new NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the men's hammer throw. He took second place with a toss of 177'10". The NCAA provisional standard is 173'10.50". Conor McNeill of Pacific Lutheran won the hammer with a throw of 181'0".

Whitworth scored 242 points to win the men's team championship. Willamette was second with 188 points and George Fox University was third with 119 points. Pacific Lutheran took fourth with 109 points, while Linfield was fifth at 68, Pacific University was sixth at 57, the University of Puget Sound was seventh at 18 and Lewis & Clark placed eighth at 16.

George Fox won the women's team championship with 219 points and Willamette placed second with 144 points. The Bearcats edged out Whitworth, which finished third at 142. Linfield was fourth with 78 points, Lewis & Clark took fifth with 72, Puget Sound was sixth with 61, Pacific Lutheran was seventh with 60 and Pacific was eighth with 42.

Other top results for the Bearcat women's team on Saturday:

Erynn Rebol (So., Cottonwood, CA/Red Bluff Union HS) placed third in the 800-meter run in 2:22.28 to lead a 3-4-5 finish by the Bearcats.

Brandi Miller (Jr., Grants Pass, OR/North Valley HS) took third in the 400-meter hurdles with a personal record time of 1:05.33 and was fourth in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.59 seconds. She set a career-best time in the prelims of the 100 hurdles in 15.49 seconds on Friday.

Willamette's team of Nhim, Dinsmore, Robin Smith (Fr., Tillamook OR/Tillamook HS) and Miller placed third in the 4 x 100-meter relay with a time of 49.18 seconds.

The Bearcats placed third in the women's 4 x 400-meter relay. Nhim, Miller, Rebol and Stevie Gildehaus (So., Spokane Valley, WA/University HS) logged a time of 4:04.63. Gildehaus, filling in for the injured Dinsmore, held off Puget Sound down the stretch.

Katie Mariman (Fr., Sherwood, OR/Sherwood HS) claimed second place in the pole vault, as she cleared 10'8.25".

Other top results for the Willamette men's team on Saturday:

Colignon achieved third place in the 110-meter hurdles. He earned a personal record time of 15.52 seconds in the finals.

Manta Dircks (Fr., Honolulu, HI/Kamehameha HS) was second in the triple jump with a combined distance of 44'11.50". He finished three inches behind the winner, Luke Mathews of Whitworth (45'2.50.").

Josh Clothier (Sr., Walla Walla, WA/Walla Walla HS) took second place in the shot put. He recorded his top throw of 50'5.25" on his final attempt. David Oppat (Sr., Beaverton, OR/Southridge HS) was third with a toss of 48'9".