The Evergreen State College outdoor track and field team had a productive weekend competing in the Pacific Lutheran University Open last March 15 to16 at Parkland in Tacoma, highlighted by their haul of personal and school records broken, season bests, top three performances, and most especially, qualification to their respective events in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championships.
"This weekend was just epic!” exclaimed Evergreen Track and Field head coach Joel Pearson after the Greeners’ performances. “The family is doing amazing! Recruitment is going amazing! The future is bright! What a great weekend to be a Geoduck!"
Junior heptathlete Corona Parker was the star of the meet for the Greeners as she had a ball on her five events for the whole weekend, breaking personal and school records for fun while qualifying for the CCC championship in two of those events, topped off by her win in the women's high jump.
Parker soared to a new school record of 1.60 meters in the women’s high jump and was the only one in the competition to clear at least five feet to get first place in the event, garnering top plaudits and solidifying her CCC championship slot.
She also got the Cascade Championship qualifier for women’s 100m hurdles, clocking in at 15.51 seconds, while also setting a new personal record for women’s javelin at 27.48m and participating in the women’s shotput to mark at 9.37m.
Parker is also a member of the quartet comprised of Abigail Strickland, Iris Campesino, and Nadya Miller, who broke their school record in the women’s 4 x 100m relay, finishing third in the event at 54.93s. They broke the record last week in the PLU Invite on the same grounds at 55.25s.
"I am really excited to see what Corona can do in the heptathlon next weekend with the marks she's already put up!" said Assistant Coach Katie Burnett, who shared her excitement about Corona’s achievements in the meet.
Another standout performance at the weekend was from speedster Braxton Claridy, who qualified for the two events in the Cascade Conference Championship, placing first in the 400m and second in the 200m men’s events.
Claridy, who was in his freshman year in the Evergreen State athletics setup, was already in the history books for the Geoducks as he ran the fastest 200-400 double in Evergreen history, clocking in at 49.93s at the men’s 400m, the third best in school history, while shattering his previous school record in the men’s 200m at 22.07s.
Apart from them, Evergreen sophomore Alauna Carstens punched her ticket to the CCC Championships after finishing second in the women’s 1500m, recording at 4:41.00.
The throwing contingent also did not disappoint as Jalyn Sackrider, in her first meet of the season, broke a two-year school record in the women’s discus throw to qualify for the Cascade Conference Championship, setting 37.61m as the new school standard in the event.
"Women's discus had a strong first competition with Jalyn breaking the school record and moving into the number one spot of top ten discus throwers!" stated Assistant Coach in Throws Brittany Hinchcliffe.
The qualified Geoducks join the team composed of Evergreen State athletes who booked their tickets to the CCC Championships on earlier invites.
Abigail Strickland got her ticket to the CCC on the PLU Invite last March 9 as she struck in 17.18s in the women’s 100 hurdles while improving her time in the PLU Open at 16.47s, while Mark Tiersma is the first in this season’s Geoduck Outdoor Track and Field to qualify in the Cascade Championships as he placed fifth in his heat of 24 runners in the men’s 10,000 meters at the Ed Boitano Invitational in Puget Sound two weeks ago, with his time of 32:45.13 being third best in school history.
The Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships will be held at OIT's Moehl Stadium from May 9-11. Still, the Geoducks will return to action at the University of Oregon on Friday the 22nd, UPS Payton / Shotwell Invite on Saturday the 23rd, and the Pacific University Multi-Events Meet on Sunday and Monday in Forest Grove, Oregon, in preparation for the Championships in Oregon Tech.
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