Day one of the Oregon State High Performance track and field meet started bright and early for the athletes on Friday and OSU saw personal and season records across the board.
Montserrat Montanes i Arbo from Hawaii won the women’s hammer to start the meet at 10 a.m. Coming in fifth place was Markayla Billings of OSU, the highest placing Beaver in the event. The junior out of California threw 161-1, her highest mark in two weeks.
Anneke Moersdorf came into the meet slotted as the best jumper competing, and she did not disappoint.
“I listen to music when I get ready, really just get myself going with music,” Moersdorf said on her preparation for the meet.
Moersdorf dominated in the long jump, setting a season best and taking the event by over a foot and a half with a jump of 20-2.25 on her very last jump. The senior, also from California, was the first Beaver of the day to win her event and moved into #61 in Division 1 for long jump.
She is the OSU school record holder and was less than an inch short of breaking the record she set last year, which she hopes to break again later this year.
“Sometimes I’ll enter the sand sooner, so basically I just felt like I had more time in the air on that last jump, so I knew it was going to be my best. This is actually my second best jump ever,” Moersdorf said.
The first running event of the meet was the 400m hurdles, and Adael Scatena set a PR and moved up to #38 in D1 with a time of 58.10. She beat out her teammate Kate Sorensen, by one tenth of a second, and the two got first and second respectively.
Moersdorf also set a PR in the 200 meter dash with a 24.76, leading the way with the fastest time from a Beav on the day and 10th place. Jada Hurley set a season best with a 24.82, and Abby Buckley set a PR with a 25.25.
Claire Lee pulled out a podium in pole vault, securing a season best 11-11.25 en route to a third place finish. After a shaky start on her first height, she cleared it after her last attempt, then cleared the next three heights on first attempt before stalling out at 12-5.25.
Jade Whitfield came in as the heavy favorite for discus, but fell short after a huge PR by a thrower from Hawaii, Hallee Mohr. She secured second place though, with a mark of 179-8.
“I really enjoy competing, no matter what the competition is, for me it is just another opportunity to throw further and further,” Whitfield said. “I think at first in the beginning of the season it felt like there were a little bit of expectations that I put on myself, but overtime I have been able to shake that off.”
Even though she came in second, she is ready for the next meet to hopefully secure another first place finish, as she sits comfortably at #16 in D1 currently.
“I mean the goal is always to win, today was just one of those days. I wasn’t expecting too much from this meet. Obviously, it is motivating whenever you take second to try to get further, but that is always my goal to strive to throw as far as I can,” Whitfield said.
The 5000m open race, which consists of 12.5 around the track saw another Beaver win, and it wasn’t close. Delaney Griffin beat out second place by over 14 seconds, securing another first place for the host team with a time of 17:06.57.
The 5000m invitational was held later and saw six OSU members run the race, coming in 3rd, Sage Brooks finished the highest out of the six with a time of 16:06.24. The other runners finished in sixth, 10th, 11th, 14th and a Did Not Start.
At the end of day one, Washington State accounted for the most first place finishes with a total of eight, while the Beavers had three first place finishes. Multiple teams had two first place finishes including Hawaii, Gonzaga, Western Oregon and University of Oregon.
Day two of the track meet continues at 11 a.m. with women’s javelin at Whyte Track and Field Center, and entry is completely free.
