Duenas, Carlson, Montague Win Events on Second Day of NWC Championships

Michael Montague (Jr., San Diego, CA/Canyon Crest Academy), Photo courtesy Pacific Lutheran Athletics

April 27, 2019

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

TACOMA, Wash. -- Hope Duenas (Jr., Covina, CA/Covina HS), Keith Carlson (Sr., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS), and Michael Montague (Jr., San Diego, CA/Canyon Crest Academy) each won a Northwest Conference championship in an individual event during the second day of the 2019 NWC Track and Field Championships on Saturday, April 27 on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University. Duenas won the women's discus throw, while Carlson took first place in the men's 5,000-meter run and Montague finished first in the men's 1,500-meter run.

The winning distance for Duenas in the women's discus was a personal record 147' 6" on the last of her six throws. Earlier, she threw the discus 147' 1' on her third and final throw of the prelims to take the lead. Kayla Rambo of Whitworth University took second place with a toss of 146' 8" on her second throw of the prelims.

Duenas' previous top throw was 147' 2" during the 2018 Willamette Invitational. Her 147' 6" on Saturday ranks 12th on this year's NCAA Division III performance list. Duenas earned All-NWC honors for the second time this weekend. She placed third in the women's hammer throw on Friday with a distance of 138' 7".

Carlson prevailed in the men's 5,000-meter run with a time of 15:11.85. He led a 1-2 finish for the Bearcats, with Montague taking second place in 15:26.13. Kyle Rapacz of Pacific Lutheran was third at 15:32.05.

Hope Duenas (Jr., Covina, CA/Covina HS) Montague won the men's 1,500-meter run in 4:01.20. Miguel Haro-Ruiz of Lewis & Clark College was second in 4:01.95.

In addition to Montague's second place finish behind Carlson in the men's 5,000, two other Bearcats earned second place on Saturday.

RoShaan Rogers (Gr., Roseville, CA/Woodreek HS) took second in the men's 400-meter hurdles in 55.35 seconds, setting a new personal record by 0.61. He broke his previous record of 55.96 seconds set in the prelims on Friday. Hazel Carr (Sr., Seattle, WA/The Northwest School) placed second in the women's 1,500-meter run with a personal record time of 4.47.70. Carr lowered her record from 4:48.82, which she earned at this year's Willamette Invitational on March 23.

Three Bearcats scored points for Willamette in the women's 1,500. Carr's second place finish was followed by Isabel Duxbury (So., Seattle, WA/University Prep) in sixth place at 4:54.30 and Kyla Shade in eighth place with a personal record of 4:56.38.

The Willamette men's 4 x 400-meter relay team of Rogers, Matt Ihling, Connor Giannini, and Keaton Beckmann achieved All-NWC status by placing third with a time of 3:26.39. WU held off Linfield College's relay unit, which took fourth place in 3:26.43 and the Lewis & Clark College relay team, which placed fifth in 3:26.76.

Beckmann earned third place in the men's javelin throw. His top toss covered a personal record distance of 183' 0". His record had been 177' 2" since he achieved the mark two weeks ago at the Pacific Luau on April 13.

In the women's 400-meter hurdles, Adrian Schnee (Fr., Kalispell, MT/Glacier HS) earned fourth place with a personal record time of 1:06.44. She lowered her personal record by an additional 0.83 after lowering it by 0.40 in the prelims on Saturday to 1:07.27.

Keith Carlson (Sr., Bainbridge Island, WA/Bainbridge HS) Not only did Giannini contribute to Willamette taking third place in the men's 4 x 400-meter relay, he also competed in the finals of the men's 200-meter dash and the men's 400-meter dash. He placed fifth in the 200 with a time of 22.22 seconds, tying his personal record set at the 2019 Willamette Opener. His earlier time of 22.22 was wind aided, but Saturday's run was not. Giannini was sixth in the 400 on Saturday with a time of 50.94 seconds.

Emily Evans (Sr., Anchorage, AK/South Anchorage HS) of Willamette was fifth and Shade was seventh in the women's 5,000-meter run. Evans completed the race in 18:46.67 and Shade was timed at 18:56.36. Evans set a personal record, lowering her time from 19:09.76 at the 2017 Willamette Invitational.

In the women's 800-meter run, Grace Crookham-Guy (So., Boise, ID/Boise HS) was sixth and Carr was seventh for the Bearcats. Crookham-Guy registered a time of 2:24.55 and Carr finished the race in 2:25.35.

Robbie Melhorn (Sr., Bangkok, Thailand/International School Bangkok) placed eighth in two events for Willamette. He earned a time of 2:04.30 in the men's 800-meter run and was timed at 4:11.73 in the men's 1,500-meter run.

Team Scores

George Fox University won the men's team title with 212 points. Whitworth University claimed second place with 159 points. Pacific University was third with 90 points, just one point in front of Willamette, as the Bearcats placed fourth at 89. Linfield College was fifth at 73, with Pacific Lutheran University in sixth at 71, Lewis & Clark College in seventh at 64, and University of Puget Sound in eighth with 61 points.

The Bruins also won the women's team championship, as George Fox scored 230 points. Whitworth followed in second at 137, with Pacific Lutheran in third at 132. Pacific was fourth with 122 points, Linfield was fifth at 72.50, Willamette was sixth at 69, Lewis & Clark was seventh at 29, and Puget Sound was eighth with 27.50 points.