Tracksters Officially Kick Off The Outdoor Season
March 14, 2009
GRESHAM, Ore. - Rain and wind were in abundance at the Mt Hood Community College Saints Open this weekend. Times were slowed a bit by the weather but the Geoducks showed some grit and ran tough in their first official meet of the 2009 Outdoor Track and Field season.
Starting it off for the Geoducks was sophomore Liam Rockwell in the 1500 meters, crossing the line in 4:22.52 to take 8 th overall. Rockwell competed in the 800meters as well, finishing in 2:06.94. The time earned him a 7 th place overall finish.
Also running in the 1500 meters for Evergreen was junior Nick Pace, who finished in a ten second personal best of 4:40.67. Sophomore Tyler Luce was right on Pace's heels with a fifteen second personal best of 4:43.44.
Next up for the Geoduckers was senior Lindsey Farah running the 400 meters. Farah finished 2 nd in her heat and 5 th overall with a time of 63.83. Farah came back later to double in the 200 meters as well, finishing the sprint in 28.91 seconds. Frosh Evelyn Coleman also competed in her first meet of the year for Evergreen in the 400 meters.
On the guys' side sophomore Ryan Lara braved the weather and ran his only event of the day competing in the 400 meters with a 52.91. Lara, who is recovering from a particularly nasty flu, represented the Geoducks well in what turned out to be a very close race, placing 9 th overall
Senior Jason Shoemaker won his heat of the 100 meter sprint with a time of 12.39 seconds, and placed 16 th overall. Closing in on the line and still a stride behind the lead, Shoemaker gave an impressive surge to edge out his opponent by one one-hundredth of a second. It was his only event of the day. In that same heat was teammate Alex Combs-Bachmann, who finished the short sprint in 12.97 seconds and came back to run the 200 meters as well, finishing in a PR of 25.77 seconds despite the weather.
In the only long distance event of the meet frosh Emily Baker represented the Geoduck women in the 5000m. Baker finished in a time of 22:05.84 in her first meet of the year.
The men's 5000m was plagued by timing issues which resulted in half the field receiving no official time. Evergreen's Tyler Luce was amongst the runners receiving no time. Luce was unofficially clocked at 17:10, which was a full minute and twenty-five seconds faster than his former personal best.
Running alongside the Geoducks at this meet were cross-country standouts Ana Casillas and Brian Rakestraw, who both competed unattached. Casillas doubled in the 1500 and 800 meters running 5:06.12 and 2:36.93 respectively. Casillas placed 2 nd overall in the 1500. Rakestraw chose the longer double of 1500m and 5000m, running 4:17.73 and 15:30.66, earning a second place finish in the 5000m. Casillas will return in the Spring to run for the Geoducks, while Rakestraw will be leaving to study abroad for the quarter in Ecuador .
The weather can only get better for the Evergreen track team as they look ahead to their next competition. Keep an eye out for the Geoducks at the Spring Break Open hosted by Club Northwest on March 28 th .