The RiverHawk Track & Field teams competed at the NWAC Championships Monday and Tuesday. The event was hosted at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, OR. Both the men and women had their best finishes since the program was reinstated in 2019. The women finished in the second place spot with 109 points when compared to first place Lane CC (288 pts) and third place Olympic College (82 pts). This was a big improvement since the last NWAC championships were held in 2019. That season the women finished in 8th place. The men improved their standings from 10th all the way to 4th.
Top three individuals earn NWAC All-American honors. Athletes finishing in top eight places earn NWAC All-Conference.
On the day, the RiverHawk women had two individual champions, seven individual All-Americans, ten All-Conference athletes with both relay teams also earning All-American status. Their efforts secured a second place podium finish to bring home the women's track program their first team award, and led to the achievement of women's team coaching staff of the year.
The men improved from 10th to 4th in the team standings. Two individual champions, seven All-American and three All-Conference finishes were collected by the RiverHawk men. The men's 4x100 finished with All-American honors with the 4x400 coming home with All-Conference.
Umpqua's Zachary Holland and Leonie Samuels were selected as the NWAC's most outstanding field athletes of the meet. Holland set a new personal best, school record, NWAC record, meet record, and Junior College national record in the men's Javelin. His first throw sailed 80.61m/264'5.62", and was the third time this season that Holland had broken the national record. Leonie set three personal bests during the NWAC championships. Samuels won the shot put with a huge throw of 14.22m, finished third in the discus with a throw of 39.34m, and also earned all-conference honors with a seventh place finish in the hammer.
While most of the RiverHawks have concluded their season, Zachary Holland will continue his efforts at the USATF Outdoor Championships June 23rd-26th, competing in the men's javelin on Sunday, June 26th at 12:35pm. The meet will be hosted at Hayward Field in Eugene. Holland is competing in hopes to make the USA world team for the World Athletics Championships in July, also hosted at Hayward Field in Eugene.
Individual Performances
Men:
Jaylen Allen: All-Conference Triple Jump
Dustin Baze: All-Conference 4x400, All-American 4x100
Giovanni Boyle: All-American 4x100
Donovon Bruce: All-Conference 4x400, All-American & NWAC Champion 400m
Alex Duguid-Green: All-American Discus
Zachary Holland: All-American & NWAC Champion Javelin, Most Outstanding Field Athlete
Daniel Johnson: All-Conference 4x400, All-American 4x100
Tyler Lindsey: All-Conference 3000m Steeplechase
Colby Neron: All-American Javelin
Ethan Pariani: All-Conference 4x400
Christopher Penn: All-American 100m, 200m, & 4x100
Noah Retherford: All-Conference 10000m
Keith Sorenson: All-American Pole Vault
Women:
Shakiya Candelaria: All-American 4x100
Danielle Christenson: All-Conference Javelin, All-American 4x100
Dawn Cobb: All-Conference High Jump
Pamela Decko: All-Conference 5000m & 10000m
Alexandra Durfee: All-Conference Shot Put
Genessa Eldredge: All-Conference Pole Vault
Eve Elmore: All-Conference Hammer
Gabriela Rudd: All-Conference 400m Hurdles, All-American Pole Vault, Triple Jump, 4x400
Leonie Samuels: All-Conference Hammer, All-American Discus & Shot Put, NWAC Champion Shot Put, Most Outstanding Field Athlete
Mariah Summers: All-American 3000m Steeplechase & 4x400
Kristen Thomas: All-Conference 800m, All-American 4x100 & 4x400
Jadyn Vermillion: All-Conference 100m, All-American Triple Jump, 200m, Long Jump, 4x100, & 4x400, NWAC Champion Triple Jump
