Colignon Holds Seventh Place after Five Events in NCAA Decathlon

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

DELAWARE, OHIO -- Willamette University athlete Evin Colignon (Sr., Poulsbo, WA/Charles Wright Academy) held seventh place in the decathlon with 3,368 points during the first day of the 2011 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Thursday, May 26. Five decathlon events were held at Selby Field on the Ohio Wesleyan University campus on Thursday, with the final five events set for Friday, May 27.

Colignon recorded his top finish of the day in the shot put. He took second place with a toss of 43' 9.75". His highest score of the day was earned in the 400-meter dash, as his time of 51.19 seconds resulted in 761 points.

During Thursday's action, Colignon set personal records in in the 400-meter dash and the high jump. His previous career-best in the 400 was 51.44 seconds, recorded at the NWC Multi-Event Championships in 2010.

In the high jump, Colignon advanced his top mark to 5' 10". He surpassed his previous best jump of 5' 9.25", earned at this year's Linfield Multi-Event meet on March 21.

Ethan Miller from Central College (Iowa) won two decathlon events as he took first place in the 100-meter dash in 10.95 seconds and was first in the long jump at 23' 6".

Richard Roethel of Christopher Newport University (Va.) finished first in the high jump by clearing 6' 8/75", while Ben Harmon from Washington University (Mo.) won the 400-meter dash in 50.19 seconds and Devin Dirth from Luther College (Iowa) won the shot up at 44' 8".

Roethel scored a total of 3,889 points on Thursday to claim the overall lead in the decathlon. Miller was just 22 points out of first place with 3,867 points. Kurtis Brondyke from Central College (Iowa) was third with 3,819 points.

In other action at the NCAA Championships, Stefan Redfield (Sr., Sisters, OR/Sisters HS) of Willamette took 13th place in the men's 1,500-meter run. Redfield placed sixth in the first of two heats with a time of 3:58.10.

The top five finishers in each heat advanced into the finals on Saturday, along with the next two fastest times for a total of 12 finalists. Both of the at-large berths went to runners in the second heat.

Runners in the 1,500 faced a wet track after the prelimary heats were delayed due to the weather.

The first heat was won by Greg Whittle from Calvin College (Mich.) in 3:57.41. Redfield finished 0.40 behind Matt Turlip of New York University, who took fifth place in the first heat at 3:57.70. The second heat was won by Rick Guarino from SUNY Fredonia (N.Y.) in 3:56.97.

Leo Castillo (Jr., Parkdale, OR/Hood River Valley HS) placed 15th for WU in the men's 10,000-meter run. Castillo registered a time of 32:11.18. Mike Spain from North Central College (Ill.) won the race in 29:58.91.

Brandi Miller (Jr., Grants Pass, OR/North Valley HS) of Willamette completed the first day of the heptathlon in 22nd place with a score of 2,580 points. She recorded her top score of the day in the 100-meter hurdles, as she tallied 796 points with a personal record time of 15.35 seconds.

At the end of the day, Miller was just 54 points out of 17th place and only 125 points out of 13th place. The first four events in the heptathlon were completed on Thursday. The final three events will be on Friday.

Event winners in the heptathlon were Emma Dewart of Ithaca College (N.Y.) in the 100-meter hurdles at 14.10 seconds and the high jump at 5' 5.25", Beth Stam from George Fox University in the shot put at 38' 4.25" and Jill Ziskovksy from Central College (Iowa) in the 200-meter dash. Dewart topped the overall standings with 3,079 points.

Also on Friday, Willamette thrower David Oppat (Sr., Beaverton, OR/Southridge HS) will participate in the men's shot put and Bearcat runner Kimber Mattox (Jr., Bend, OR/Bend HS/Cornell Univ.) will compete in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase.

The NCAA Championships will continue through Saturday, May 28. Mattox is slated to run in the women's 5,000-meter steeplechase in one of the final events on Saturday.