Puget Sound’s track and field team has been busy over the past two weeks, participating in two major events and producing good results in both.
The team traveled to Parkland, Wash. on Tuesday, April 16 to represent Puget Sound in the NWC Multi Event Championships. The competition featured a traditional decathalon for the men and a heptathlon (seven events).
Individuals gain points based on performance in the events, and whoever finishes the two-day event with the most overall points is crowned the winner.
Only four Loggers attended this special event, with junior Joe Cerne (Enumclaw, Wash.), freshman Cameron Braithwaite (Port Angeles, Wash.) and senior Myles McDonald (Vancouver, Wash.) representing the men’s side, while freshman Emily Sheldon (Portland, Ore.) competed for the women.
Cerne, who won the same competition last year, put himself in a hole on the first day, as the 3026 points he accrued on the first day was good enough for just fifth place out of the eight competitors.
However, Cerne battled back on the second day. His discus throw of 36.99 was the best score of the day, and his javelin throw went almost four meters farther than the next closest competitor.
By the time he had finished with the top time in the 1500 meter run, Cerne had safely outstripped all of his competitors, and finished the competition with 6321 points to win the overall competition. His score was more than 100 points more than his next closest competitor, and 82 points higher than his winning mark last season.
As for the other Loggers in the Multi Event Championships, Braithwaite finished fourth, and McDonald took seventh. Of particular note was the pole vault, where the Loggers swept the top three, with Cerne taking first, Braithwaite taking second and McDonald finishing third. On the women’s side, Sheldon took ninth out of the ten women.
After winning at the NWC Multi Event Championships, Cerne, Braithwaite, McDonald and Sheldon were joined by the rest of their teammates for the Spike Arit Invitation, which would be the team’s final test before the NWC Championships begin in earnest.
On the women’s side, junior Alicia Burns (Spokane Valley, Wash.) and sophomore Sierra Grunwald (Philomath, Ore.) were the obvious stars. Burns won the women’s 800-meter run, posting a time of 2:24.93 that outstripped her opponents by almost four seconds.
And in the women’s 1500-meter, Grunwald was the only runner who finished in under five minutes, as her time of 4:55.22 set the pace. Overall, the women’s team finished fourth out of the five teams.
The men’s side was more balanced, featuring no individual wins, but a strong enough overall performance to help the team finish third out of six teams. Cerne followed up his dominance at the NWC Multi Event Championships to finish third in the 400-meter as well as the pole vault.
All of the invitationals and smaller meets have led up to NWC Championships in Salem, Ore. on April 26-27. According to Logger Athletics, the team will send 21 men and 15 women to the event.
