Thornton and Waters Set Personal Records on Second Day of Titan Invitational

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

EUGENE, Ore. -- Katherine Thornton (So., Reno, NV/Reno HS) of Willamette University set a personal record while placing second in the women's 100-meter hurdles, and teammate Samantha Waters (Jr., Kalispell, MT/Flathead HS) set a personal-best to take fourth place in the women's hammer throw on Saturday, April 9, as action concluded on the second day of the Titan Invitational, hosted by Lane Community College.

Thornton achieved a time of 15.41 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles. She broke her previous fastest time of 16.75, set one week ago at the Jenn Boyman Memorial Invitational. On Saturday, she trailed only India Collins from Southern Oregon University, who won the event in 15.20 seconds. Thornton added a fourth place finish in the women's 400-meter hurdles as she completed the race in 1:09.96.

Waters registered a top throw of 154' 0" in the women's hammer throw to take fourth place out of 23 competitors. She broke her previous personal record of 153' 6" set at the Jenn Boyman meet on April 2. Waters remained in fourth place on Willamette's all-time list. Ellie Akough from the University of Oregon won the hammer throw with a mark of 168' 7".

Three other Bearcats placed in the top four at the Titan Invitational on Saturday.

Sami Riggs (Jr., La Verne, CA/Bonita HS) took third place in the women's 400-meter dash in 100.75. She was just 0.37 behind Adrienne Mai of Bushnell University, who placed second in 1:00.38. Lily Lavine from Oregon Institute of Technology was first in the 400 at 59.78 seconds.

Oliver Anderson (Jr., Salem, OR/Home Schooled) earned fourth place out of 16 runners in the men's 100-meter dash, as he attained a time of 11.08 seconds. Anderson was barely edged out for second and third. Dylan Murray of Lane CC was second at 11.06 seconds and Blake Morgan from Southern Oregon University was third at 11:07. Cameron Andrews of Lane CC won the 100 with a time of 10.76 seconds.

In the men's 400-meter hurdles, Simon Kidder (So., M, Bend, OR/Summit HS) placed fourth in 59.84 seconds. Nathan Witte from College of the Redwoods won the 400 hurdles in 55.50 seconds.

Other Top Performances for Willamette

Eric Kaszycki (Jr., Santee, CA/Santana HS) placed eighth in the men's discus with a top throw of 128' 2" just one day after finishing third in the discus, fourth in the hammer throw, and fifth in the shot put during the John Knight Twilight at Western Oregon University.

In addition to Waters taking fourth place in the hammer throw, two other Bearcats placed in the top 10 as Leanne Machado (Jr., Pendleton, OR/Pendleton HS) was seventh and Avery Mickelsen (Sr., Ephrata, WA/Ephrata HS) was ninth. Machado's top distance was 127' 8", while Mickelsen's best mark was 124' 0".

Up Next for the Bearcats

Willamette is scheduled to participate in the 2022 Northwest Conference Multi-Event Championships on Monday, April 11 and Tuesday, April 12 at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. The Bearcats also will compete at the 2022 Northwest Conference Championships on April 22-23 at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.