Day One Results

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Senior thrower Emmi Collier repeated as Great Northwest Athletic Conference champion in the shot put, sophomore Jeremy Moore made the medal stand twice and numerous runners qualified for final heats on the first day of the 2016 GNAC Outdoor Track & Field Championship, hosted by the Wolves.
 
Western Oregon stands in sixth place in the men's team race with 27 points, placing them 23 points behind Western Washington, and the women are in seventh place with 15 points.
 
Collier defended her title in the women's shot put competition with a final round mark of 13.81m (45-4). Moore maxed out in round four of the men's shot put with a personal best by 1.5 feet, earning third place and a NCAA provisional qualifier with a mark of 16.12m (52-11). He then waited until the last rounds of the discus competition to grab another third place finish, this time with an effort of 47.51m (155-10.75).
 
The Wolves had a number of events with multiple scorers. Five Western Oregon throwers made the final in discus – Moore, Kenny Klippel (4^th, 45.73m), Josh Brown (7^th), Kegan Allen (8^th), Brandon Bowen (9^th). In men's shot, freshman Josh Brown joined Moore garnering points with an eighth place finish at 14.05m.
 
In the steeplechase, Zach Holloway took fifth with a time of 9:20.60 and Grace Knapp took sixth in the women's race with a time of 11:13.04, her personal best by 20 seconds. Kody Kantola placed seventh in the men's long jump (6.79m / 22-3.5). In the women's discus, Rachael Huffman took seventh place (38.86m / 127-6.25) while Cheyenne Auchard finished shy of scoring points in ninth (37.76m).
 
A swath of Wolves' runner also qualified for finals in their respective preliminary event on Friday. In the men's races, Cody Warner ran a 10.81 to win his 100m preliminary heat and secured a spot in the 200m finals with the second fastest time of 22.01. Aaron Whitaker won his 400m heat in 48.45, while in the 800m prelim Badane Sultessa posted the fastest time with a 1:51.33, Josh Dempsey qualified second at 1:53.45, and Josh Hanna ran a 1:53.85 to nab fifth. Kaleb Dobson qualified in both hurdle distances with a 13.81 in the 110m (6^th) and 55.73 in the 400m (T-4^th).
 
Over on the women's side, Laura Patrick ran a 12.84 to qualify for the 100m dash final on Saturday while a duo qualified in the 400m – Megan Rose at 56.61 (3^rd) - improving her fourth place time on the WOU all-time list - and Olivia Woods at 57.00 flat (4^th). Two runners qualified in the 800m with Suzanne Van De Grift running a 2:13.13 for sixth place and Bailey Beeson grabbed the final qualifying spot with a time of 2:13.59.
 
The remaining running races will have their final rounds during Saturday's competition.
 
Saturday's events begin at 9 a.m. with the men's hammer with the women's javelin to commence at 9:45 a.m. Track events kick off at 11 a.m. with the finals of the men's 4 x 100m relay.