ELLENSBURG, Wash. (March 28) — Two more Central Washington University outdoor track and field athletes exceeded NCAA Division II provisional national qualifying standards with their performances Saturday at the Willamette University Invitational in Salem, Ore. Results page.
Erin Chinchar was among them, posting what CWU head track and field coach Kevin Adkisson called an "eye-popping" performance in winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 11:02.07.
"It was definitely more than we were expecting on the day," Adkisson acknowledged. "Erin was on pace to break 11 minutes but she fell on the next to the last water jump. She was in the lead by about five meters and lost about four seconds. But she got up and still finished with something like a 20-second PR [personal record] for her."
With the victory, Chinchar joined fellow Wildcat Dani Eggleston as provisional national qualifiers in the event. Eggleston did some speed work at Willamette, running the 1,500 meters and setting a new PR in a time of 4:39.53.
"That was definitely an encouraging mark for her," Adkisson said.
CWU's other national qualifier was Megan Nelson in the javelin, with a throw of 137-11.
"That was over the provisional by about five feet," Adkisson pointed out. "Her first throw was her best of the day. It was a good looking throw—that was exciting."
Jayna Inderbitzin also qualified for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) championships in the 800 meters, with a 2:14.65 time on Saturday.
"For her, that's a four to five second PR," Adkisson said. "In that race, that's a big chunk of time."
Inderbitzin had previously qualified for the conference meet in the 400, setting up a small dilemma for Adkisson as to which race he may want her to concentrate for the remainder of the season, with the hope of qualifying for the national meet.
"At this point, we'll probably go back and forth for the next several week," he noted.
Several other Wildcats also set personal records on Saturday, including both Megan Rogers (17:37.21) and Rudy Spencer (15:09.88) in their respective 5,000-meter races; and Darren Arndt, who ran a 50-flat time in the 400 meters.
Meanwhile, several CWU performers also turned in top-quality performances at the Club Northwest Spring Break Open at West Seattle Stadium. Results page.
Bryan Moon met the GNAC qualifying standard in winning the javelin (188-03); Zane Irvin took top honors in the pole vault (15-0 ¼); Armando Tafoya (47-10) and James Shumate (46-7 ½) placed Nos. 1-2 in the shot put, and (with throws of 150-0 and 141-09, respectively) second and third in the discus. On the women's side, Aiyana Homer took third in the discus (117-06) and fourth in the hammer (107-00).
CWU will have athletes entered in four different events this coming week: the Western Washington University Multi-Events meet in Bellingham, on Thursday; University of Puget Sound Shotwell Invitational in Tacoma, Friday and Saturday; and both the San Francisco State University Distance Carnival, in San Francisco, and Stanford Invitational, in Palo Alto, Calif., also on Saturday.
