Willamette to Host West Coast Invitational in Track and Field

By Timothy Walsh, Athletics Communications Writer

SALEM, ORE. -- The West Coast Invitational track and field meet will be held today, May 15, 2014, at Willamette University, featuring entries from Willamette, several other Northwest Conference squads and eight NCAA Division I teams.

The meet will be held at the Charles Bowles Track, located at McCulloch Stadium in Bush's Pasture Park. The only exceptions are the men's and women's hammer throw, which will be held at the ring behind the Math Learning Center (1850 Oxford Street SE).

Athletes from Willamette will compete against NWC rivals Lewis & Clark College, Linfield College, Pacific University and the University of Puget Sound, as well as Division I programs Brigham Young University, Gonzaga University, Loyola Marymount University, Oregon State University, the University of Portland, Saint Mary's College (Cal.), the University of San Francisco, Santa Clara University.

In addition, several athletes from running clubs and a handful of unattached athletes are set to compete.

Field events will get underway at 4 p.m. with the men's high jump and will conclude with the combined hammer and combined triple jump at 6 p.m. Events on the track will begin at 6:30 p.m. with the men's 400-meter relay. The men's 5,000-meter run will complete the schedule at 9:30 p.m.

The West Coast Invitational is a chance for several Willamette athletes to improve their marks with the NCAA Championships just two weeks away.

Willamette Athletes on the NCAA Performance List

Several Bearcats are listed among the top 30 athletes in their respective events on the national NCAA Division III performance list. The top 20 men's athletes and the top 22 women's athletes in each event will qualify for the NCAA Championships, set for May 22-24 at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.

Jordan Loos (Jr., Springfield, OR/Thurston HS) is ranked second in the men's javelin, with a school-record throw of 214' 7" at the 2014 NWC Championships. Loos also recorded a toss of 179' 5" in the men's hammer throw at the NWC Championships, good for 27th nationally.

Also for the WU men, Kit Kingstad (Sr., Beaverton, OR/Beaverton HS) is currently 20th in the men's 1,500-meter run. He achieved that result at the Oregon Twilight meet on May 9.

For the Bearcat women's team, Taylor Ostrander (So., Soldotna, AK/Kenai Central HS) is ranked 5th in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, while Michaela Freeby (Jr., Milwaukie, OR/Rex Putnam HS) is slated seventh and Hannah Bressler(So., Oak Harbor, WA/Oak Harbor HS) is 30th.

Ostrander recorded a time of 10:40.86 at the Oregon Twilight while Freeby finished in 10:44.52 at the Bearcats' dual meet with Corban University on March 20. Bressler achieved a personal record time of 11:07.68 at the Oregon Twilight.

Freeby and Ostrander are also 24th and 28th, respectively, in the 5,000-meter standings. Both times were recorded at the Willamette Invitational on March 29.

Meka Townsend (So., Okanogan, WA/Okanogan HS) is currently 14th in the javelin,registering a personal record distance of 138' 8" at the NWC Championships

Bekah Daniel(Jr., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) is 22nd in the heptathlon and 24th in the triple jump. Sheearned 4411 points in the heptathlon at the NWC Multi Championships, while also establishing a new personal record of 37' 8" in the triple jump at the NWC Championships.