2002 Northwest Conference Track & Field Athletes of the Week

April 21

NWC Women’s Athlete of the Week: Abby Jo Hornstein (Whitworth, Sr., Spokane, Wash.) won the 2002 Heptathlon at Willamette with a score of 4,480 points, surpassing the NCAA automatic qualifying score of 4,350.
Honorable Mention: Ariel Andrews (Whitman) won the 10,000 meters at the Whitworth Open in an NCAA provisional-qualifying and NWC-best time of 37:55.60; Nancy Weyler (Willamette) won the discus at the Clackamas Invitational with an NWC-best throw of 134’-3” and also finished fourth in the shot put with a mark of 40’-4.25”; Katie Heaton (UPS) provisionally qualified for the NCAA championships with a pole vault mark of 11’-3”; Jill Wilmovsky (PLU) provisionally qualified in the 400 with a time of 57.61 at the CWU Spike Arlt meet and also went 25.90 in the 200; Jo Boatright (George Fox) finished third at the heptathlon (4,165 points), setting a new heptathlon meet record of 17’-7.5” in the long jump.

NWC Men’s Athlete of the Week: Tyler May (Willamette, Fr., Florence, Ore.) won the NWC Decathlon at Willamette with a score of 6,271 points, provisionally qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
Honorable Mention: Matt Gassaway (George Fox) won the javelin at the Clackamas Invite with an NCAA automatic qualifying toss of 202’-7”; Neil Weare (L&C) won the 5,000 at the Pomona Invitational, defeating a field that included several NCAA Division I athletes, in an NCAA provisional time of 14:39.84; Leo Suzuki (Whitworth) won the 400 at the Whitworth Open in an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 48.56 and also finished 3rd in the 200 (22.05); John Wolfork (PLU) ran the 100 in 10.89, long jumped 22’-0.25” and triple jumped 46’-3.5” at the CWU meet; Kelly Bertrand (Linfield) placed second in the shot put, third in the hammer (160’-0”) and fifth in the discus (138’-0”) at the Clackamas Invite; David Cai (Whitman) was the top NWC finisher in the hammer (137’-0”) at the Whitworth Open.

April 14

NWC Women’s Athlete of the Week: Kelsey Baron (George Fox, Jr., Nehalem, Ore.) won three events at the GFU All-Comers Meet on Saturday. She set a school and field record and improved her NCAA provisional qualifying mark while winning the triple jump (38’-7.75”). She also won the long jump (18’-1.75”) and ran on the winning 4x100 relay (50.44).
Honorable Mention: Leslie Nelson (Whitworth) won the 5,000 meters (18:35.19) in a heavy wind at the Eastern Washington Pelluer Invite.

NWC Men’s Athlete of the Week: Ray Lions (Linfield, Jr., Portland, Ore.) won the javelin (207’-3”) at the GFU All-Comers meet, earning an NCAA qualifying mark, which is the second longest in the nation this year.
Honorable Mention: Reid Schooler (L&C) set an NWC-best mark in the high jump (6’-7.5”) at the GFU meet; Leo Suzuki (Whitworth) won the 400 meters (48.99) and anchored the 4x400 relay (3:19.97) at Eastern Washington; Brian Roesler (Willamette) won the 800 (1:52.4h) at the Oregon TC meet in Eugene in an NWC-best time; Ben Salisbury (George Fox) won the 200 (22.21) and 400 (49.03) and anchored the 4x400 relay (3:23.46) at the GFU meet.

April 7

NWC Women’s Athlete of the Week: Alicia Andrews (Willamette, Fr., Clarkston, Wash.) ran the 800 meters in an NWC-best time of 2:16.75 at the Willamette Invitational to place second (top collegian).
Honorable Mention: Lia Ossiander (PLU) won the 5,000 meters in a time of 18:29.0h at the Ralph Vernacchia Invite; Jennifer Bell (Linfield) placed third in the javelin with a throw of 123’-6” at the Willamette meet; Heidi Fuhrmann (Pacific) finished 3rd in the hammer at Willamette with a toss of 155’-1”.

NWC Men’s Athlete of the Week: Jacob Stout (Willamette, So., Brush Prairie, Wash.) won the 5,000 meters at the Willamette Invite on Friday night with a time of 14:35.84, the best time in the nation so far this season.
Honorable Mention: Mike Houston (PLU) ran the 800 meters in an NWC-best 1:53.94 at the Vernacchia meet, placing second; Ben Rorem (Whitworth) won the 100 meters in an NWC-best 10.82 and and also won the 200 meters (22.09) at the Whitworth Buc Invite; Jon Robinson (George Fox) improved his NWC-best mark in the long jump to 22’-7.5” while finishing 3rd at the Willamette Invite; Kelly Bertrand (Linfield) improved his NWC-best mark in the hammer throw to 157’-8”, taking 3rd at the Willamette Invite; Dustin Vanderweerd (Pacific) threw the javelin 183’-2”, a new Boxer record, at the Willamette Invite, placing 6th.

March 30

Co-NWC Women's Athletes of the Week: Laura Leineweber (Willamette, Sr., Portland, Ore.) won the 110 HH at the Willamette Spring Fling in a school-record time of 15.23 and added a win in the high jump (5’-5”). Kelsey Baron (George Fox, Jr., Nehalem, Ore.) set a school record in the triple jump with a mark of 38'-5", a mark which now has the national lead among NCAA Division III athletes.
Honorable Mention: Jessica Austin (Whitworth) won the 400 hurdles at the Whitworth Invitational in a time of 1:05.67.

NWC Men’s Athlete of the Week: Leo Suzuki (Whitworth, Sr., Shizuoka, Japan) won the 400 meters (49.18) and finished second in the 200 (22.45) at the Whitworth Invitational.

March 24

NWC Women’s Athlete of the Week: Jo Boatright (George Fox, Fr., Coos Bay, Ore.) won three events and placed second in a fourth at the CMS DIII Meet on Saturday. She won the long jump (18-2.25) and long jump (37-4.5) in NCAA provisional time, and won the high jump (5-3) and finished second in the 100 hurdles (14.84) to score a total of 36 points.
Honorable Mention: Kristen Shields (Whitworth) won the 100 (12.37) in NCAA provisional time and placed third in the 200 (26.12) at the CMS meet; Carrie Larson (PLU) finished second in the 400 hurdles (1:03.73), second in the 100 (13.05) and 8th in the 100 hurdles (16.89) at the Western Oregon Invitational.

NWC Men’s Athlete of the Week: Joe Ginanni (Linfield, So., Palo Alto, Calif.) won the 400 (49.10) and anchored the winning 4x400 relay (4:21.34) at the WOU Invitational Saturday.
Honorable Mention: Matt Gassaway (George Fox) improved his NCAA provisional mark in the javelin with a throw of 196’-8” at the CMS meet; Leo Suzuki (Whitworth) won the 400 (48.98) and finished second in the 200 (22.08) at the CMS meet Saturday; Ryan Reed (PLU) finished second in the 5,000 (15:39.60) and third in the 1,500 (3:59.79) at the WOU meet.

March 17

NWC Women’s Athlete of the Week: Abby Jo Hornstein (Whitworth, Sr., Spokane, Wash.) finished second at the Eastern Washington Multi-events meet with an NCAA provisional qualifying score of 4,076 points. She finished first in two of the events.
Honorable Mention: Laura Leineweber (Willamette) won the high jump (5’-4.25”) and finished second in the 100 hurdles (15.5) and 400 hurdles (1:07.2), leading the Bearcats to a team win at the George Fox Open; Kelsey Baron (George Fox) won the long jump (17’-7”) and triple jump (37’-1”) at the Bruins’ meet; Terry Hall (Linfield) finished second in the 1,500 (4:57.5) and ran on the 4x400 relay (4:16.9) that finished second at George Fox.

NWC Men’s Athlete of the Week: Matt Gassaway (George Fox, Fr., Washougal, Wash.) won the javelin with an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 195’-2” at the George Fox Open.
Honorable Mention: Leo Suzuki (Whitworth) won the 200 (23.19) and 400 (49.77) at the Dusty Lane Invite; Aaron Hollingshead (Willamette) won the 3,000 SC (9:27.34) at George Fox; Ryan Boatsman (Linfield) won the triple jump (43’-4”), finished second in the long jump (20’-7”) and finished third in the high jump (6’-2”) at the George Fox meet.

March 10

NWC Women’s Athlete of the Week: Nancy Weyler (Willamette, So., Billings, Mont.) won the discus (131’-1”) and placed second in the shot put (38’-7”) at the Mt. Hood CC Open. Both marks rank in the all-time top ten list for Willamette.
Honorable Mention: Kristen Hepler (PLU) finished second in the hammer at the Salzman Invite with a PR of 151’-4”; Kelsey Baron (George Fox) was second in the triple jump (36”-5.75”) and fourth in the long jump (17’-4”) at the Salzman meet; Kira Seifert (Linfield) won the 5,000 meters (20:12.35) in a dual meet with Western Oregon.

NWC Men’s Athlete of the Week: Chris Bertholf (PLU, Sr., Colbert, Wash.) won the 400 hurdles (54.89) and was fourth in the 110 HH (15.82) at the Salzman Invite.
Honorable Mention: Jon Robinson (George Fox) won the long jump (22’-1.75”) and placed 5th in the 100 meters (11.18) at the Salzman meet; Jacob Stout (Willamette) won the 3,000 Steeplechase (9:22.40) at the Mt. Hood Open; Leo Suzuki (Whitworth) finished 10th in the 400 Meters (50.26) at the NCAA Indoor Championships; Aaron Thornton (Linfield) won the javelin (192’-8”) in the dual with WOU.