Stepp Places 2nd in High Jump at George Fox Indoor Track and Field

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

NEWBERG, Ore. -- Whitley Stepp (So., Silverton, OR/Regis HS) took second place in the high jump and moved into seventh place on the national list as the Willamette University women's track and field team competed at the George Fox University Indoor Meet #1 on Saturday, Feb. 3.

Stepp cleared 5' 6" for the Bearcats. Unattached athlete Kalulusno Ngaida also cleared 5' 6", but won the event on jumps.

Tenley Grant (Jr., Longview, WA/Kelso HS) added a third place finish for Willamette in the weight throw. Her top distance was 44' 8.75". The winner of the weight throw was Jocelyn Saribay from St. Martin's University with a toss of 53' 6.25". Grant also placed eighth in shot put with a top throw of 33' 7.25".

Also for Willamette, Erica Snyder (So., Longveiw, WA/Mark Morris HS) placed ninth in the long jump at 16' 8.50". In addition, Tali Kozma (Jr., Kaneohe, HI/Mid-Pacific Institute) was 11th in the shot put with a mark of 31' 8.50" and Lavender Bel (Fy., Puyallup, WA/Graham-Kapowsin HS) took 11th out of 27 runners in the 60-meter hurdles in 9.77 seconds. Kozma also placed 13th in the weight throw at 34' 9".

Mashani Coleman Toliver (So., Bellevue, WA/Sammamish HS) was 12th in the 60-meter dash. She completed the race in 8.22 seconds.

Willamette will compete at the Whitworth Invitational in indoor track and field on Saturday, Feb. 10. The meet will be held at The Podium in Spokane, Washington.