Carstens sets national standard again for Evergreen Track and Field

The Evergreen State College Track and Field competed again in another track meet, this time in the John Knight Twilight Invitational hosted by Western Oregon University in Monmouth last Friday, April 5.

Leading the Geoducks in this meet is Alauna Carstens, who set another NAIA ‘A’ national standard time in the women’s 1500 meters, outpacing her peers after bursting a personal record time of 4:35.88.

Carstens took the lead in the final 350-meter stretch and held on to win by less than 2 seconds.

This was the sophomore’s second national standard qualifier after clinching her personal best in the women’s 5000 meters two weeks ago in the Oregon Preview. Her time of 17:11.81 was good enough for the conference and the national championships.

"Alauna has been crushing it in workouts and we've been talking about being more aggressive in races, which paid off really well today. She PR'd by over 5 seconds and it was great watching her take command of the race and make it her own,” said Assistant Coach Katie Burnett.

Freshman student-athletes Paul Stewart and Mark Tiersma also had notable performances in their events. Stewart set a new personal record in the men’s hammer throw, marking 35.60m for a decent ninth-place finish, while Tiersma finished below the 16-minute par again in the men’s 5000 meters after clocking in at 15:44.20, his second-best time.

Personal bests continue to be shattered by some of the Geoducks in this meet. Tanisha Engram broke her records in the women’s shot put and discus throw, hurling 7.82 m in the shotput and 22.70m in the discus throw, while Alison Deberry debuted in this meet in the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints, finishing sixth and seventh respectively.

The Geoducks return to action Friday and Saturday, April 12th and 13th, at the Lewis and Clark Larry Byerly Invitational in Portland. Meanwhile, heptathlete Corona Parker is set to compete in the 2024 Cascadia Collegiate Conference (CCC) Multi Event Championships on April 18th and 19th, which will be held at the Banner Bank Track in La Grande, Oregon.