Thornton Wins 100-meter and 400-meter Hurdles at Portland Distance Carnival
By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Katherine Thornton (Jr., Reno, NV/Reno HS) of Willamette University won the women's 100-meter hurdles and the women's 400-meter hurdles during the second day of the Portland Distance Carnival at Lewis & Clark College on Saturday, May 13. The Portland Distance Carnival began on Friday with all of the field events held at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. On Saturday, the track events were held at Eldon Fix Track on the L&C campus.
Thornton prevailed in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.43 seconds, as she took first place out of five competitors. Ayahna Bahati from George Fox was second in 15.88 seconds. In the 500-meter hurdles, Thornton registered a winning time of 1:06.01 in a small field of three athletes. Thornton's time in the 400 hurdles was 0.34 away from her season best of 1:05.67 at the Oregon State High Performance on April 28. Second place in Saturday's race went to Emily Rutkowski of Pacific University, who was timed at 1:06.67.
Sami Riggs (Sr., La Verne, CA/Bonita HS) was fourth in the women's 400-meter dash with a time of 58.86 seconds. The winner was McKenzie Feinglas of Linfield University in 57.39 seconds.
Willamette's Oliver Anderson (Sr., Salem, OR/Home Schooled) placed fifth out of 17 runners in the men's 100-meter dash at 11.33 seconds. John Ojukwu from George Fox won the event in 11.14 seconds. Lucas Dahl of Pacific was second at 11.16 seconds, Travis West from Portland State University was third at 11.24 seconds, and Cam'Ron McDonald from the University of Oregon Running Club was fourth at 11.31 seconds.
Zoe Heino (Fy., Portland, OR/Mountainside HS) was fifth in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase. Her time was 11:20.68, just 8.84 seconds from her career best of 11:11.84, set at the 2023 NWC Championships.
In the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase, William Hennum (Jr., Henderson, NV/Liberty HS) completed the race in 9:57.07. It was the fourth time he has broken the 10-minute mark this season.
The Portland Distance Carnival was a strong meet for Willamette. In the field events on Friday at GFU, Elijah Jones (Fy, Salem, OR/Central HS) won the men's pole vault with a personal record height of 15' 6.25", while Oliver Anderson Sr., Salem, OR/Home Schooled) took first place in the men's triple jump at 45' 7", and Whitley Stepp (Fy., Silverton, OR/Regis HS) was first in the women's high jump by clearing 5' 4.25".
Willamette's top track and field athletes will be back in action on Thursday, May 18 at the George Fox Final Qualifier, at Stoffer Family Stadium in Newberg, Oregon. It will be the Bearcats' final competition before selections to the 2023 NCAA Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championship are announced.