Beavs Host High Performance Friday
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State track and field squad is back in action at home this Friday when it hosts the OSU High Performance Meet at the Whyte Track & Field Center. It’s the fourth event held at the program’s facility, which opened nearly two years ago, and second in 2014.
The meet is one which the Beavers hope will blossom into a mainstay on the late April and early May track and field schedule. After welcoming over 240 entries for the inaugural High Performance meet last year, upwards of 700 entries and 500 athletes will descend upon Corvallis on Friday, including DI schools in Eastern Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Portland, Portland State and Seattle U.
Field events begin the day at noon with the javelin. The high jump (2:30 p.m.) and long jump (3 p.m.) will follow before the women’s 4x100m relay starts things on the track at 4 p.m. The throws will conclude with the discus at 6 p.m. and the jumps end with the women’s triple jump at 5 p.m., which begins at the same time as the pole vault.
Following the 4x100m relays, races will proceed with the 1,500m (4:20 p.m.), 100m/110m hurdles (4:40 p.m.), 400m (5 p.m.), 100m (5:15 p.m.), 800m (5:35 p.m.), 400m hurdles (5:50 p.m.), 200m (6:15 p.m.), 3,000m steeple (6:35 p.m.), 800m Invite (7:05 p.m.), 4x400m relay (7:25 p.m.), 1,500m Invite (7:50 p.m.) and 5,000m (8:20 p.m.). The women’s 5K will be the day’s last event at 9:05 p.m.
The meet on Friday is free and open to the public. Temporary stands have been put in place to accommodate expected crowds, but fans wishing to attend are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs. Free all-day parking is available in the gravel lot by the track.
Spaces adjacent to Reser Stadium will also be free beginning at 5 p.m. Parking passes must be purchased at kiosks in the Reser lots if those spaces are used prior to 5 p.m. The Whyte Track and Field Center entrance is located east of the 26th and Western intersection, between the Hilton Garden Inn and the OSU Softball Complex.
Live results for the meet will be available on osubeavers.com.
Record-Setters
This season, the Beavers have had 20 performances that are among the school’s 10 best in various events, including the 800m, 1,500m, 3,000m, 5,000m, 10,000m, long jump, triple jump, pole vault, shot put, discus, hammer and javelin. Five school records have also been set in 2014: Kinsey Gomez in the 10K (34:37.80), Michele Turney in the triple jump (39’ 6.50”), Helen Ann Haun in the pole vault (11’ 7.75”), Rachel Picknell in the hammer (160’ 4”) and Christina MacDonald in the javelin [new implement] (133’ 2”).
Rare Company
Sophomore Michele Turney, who already set the OSU triple jump record as a freshman, bettered that mark at the John Knight Twilight on April 11. Her leap of 39’ 6.50” is the sixth best in the Pac-12 during the outdoor season. Last Saturday at the Triton Invite in San Diego, Turney entered the long jump for just the second time this season and posted a distance of 18’ 0.25”, which is ninth on Oregon State’s all-time list. Turney joins Colleen Gibson as the only OSU women to be among the school’s 10 best in both horizontal jumps.
Good Start
Freshman thrower Melissa Ausman has had fantastic start to her young career. Her shot put PR of 43’ 5.75” is sixth on Oregon State’s all-time list and her discus throw of 150’ 10” is fifth. Ausman and Kam Johnson are the only OSU women to be in the top six of each of those events. Her discus mark is ninth in the Pac-12 and the second-best for any freshman.
First Timers
The Beavers’ expanding program has included a number of first-time competitions for OSU women in 2014. Freshmen Helen Ann Haun and Annie Sidor became the school’s first pole vaulters at the OSU Invite on March 8. At the same meet, Rachel Picknell’s hammer throw was a first for an OSU woman and Melissa Ausman and Kayla Fleskes have joined her in that event since. That historic hammer toss was recorded at Western Oregon University, as that part of the Whyte Track & Field Center has yet to be built. The Wolves will also host the hammer tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m.
Regional Qualifier
Junior Kinsey Gomez, running her first-ever 10K, demolished the school record at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif. on April 17, finishing in 34:37.80. With the performance, Gomez put herself in strong position to earn a berth at this year’s NCAA West Regional in Fayetteville, Ark. at the end of May. A 10K of 34:37 would have placed in the region’s top 35 each of the last two seasons. That time was 50 seconds better than Sandra Martinez’s previous OSU best of 35:27.82 from 2010, which also came at the Mt. SAC Relays.
Home Sweet Home
A number of Beavers have posted some of their best career marks at the Whyte Track & Field Center. In the 1,500m at last year’s High Performance, Kinsey Gomez and Emily Weber (redshirting this season) went 1-2 with PRs of 4:26.89 and 4:29.46. Gomez and Aly Nielson finished second and third in the 3,000m at the OSU Invite in early March with times of 9:49.17 and 9:51.58, both personal bests.
Another Step Forward
On Tuesday, Oregon State announced a $220,000 donation to the Whyte Track & Field Center which will fully fund the warm-up, staging and javelin practice areas. That gift puts Oregon State well on its way to fulfilling the matching $2 million donation it received in early 2014.
