Sun, Wildcats Shine at Pacific Luau Meet
April 12, 2014

The sun came out at Pacific University and ignited the Linfield distance crew, leading to personal records, season’s bests and conference qualifiers a plenty. On the women’s side, Hannah Greider moved up the Wildcat Top 10 list with a career-best winning time in the 5,000 meters. The senior completed the 12½-lap race in 18:10.10, knocking 2.46 seconds off her previous best time to move from 10th to eighth in the record books. Siena Noe took second in the 5K in a career-best 18 minutes, 21.27 seconds.

“Hannah’s performance was pretty impressive,” stated distance coach Greg Mitchell. “She wanted to go sub-18, but with just Siena to help push the pace up front, she fell off a bit. But they both raced great and came away with lifetime bests, so not too shabby.”

Hannah Greider (#1) and Siena Noe (#3) lead the field in the women's 5k.

Other notable performances on the women’s side: Katie Skinner chopped more than seven seconds off her previous best in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, taking second in the event, while Madison Trowbridge supplied two more career-best performances for the Linfield distance crew in the 800 and 1,500 meters. The junior chopped more than three seconds off her PR in the 800 (2:21.05) and almost 14 seconds in the 1,500 (4:56.60). Calli Dowdy also punched her ticket to the NWC Conference Championships by running a PR in the 800 meters. Her 2:25.24 was a 2 second improvement on her previous best and well under the conference standard.

“Calli’s performance was definitely the highlight of the meet for me,” stated Mitchell. “She’s been so close for so long and she finally got it done. It just shows what hard work and determination will get you in this sport. I’m really proud of her.”

Chris Roth negotiates a barrier on his way to victory in the men's steeplechase.

On the men’s side, Joe Gladow and Chris Roth paced the distance contingent with individual victories in the 5,000 meters and 3,000-meter steeplechase, respectively. Gladow clocked in at 15 minutes, 30.90 seconds in the 5K while Roth registered more than a 10-second PR in the first event of the day (10:29.53). Brandon Lemerande was third in the steeplechase (10:54.23). Another notable performance came from Chad Linnerooth in the 800 meters, where Linnerooth smashed his previous best and qualified for the conference meet by finishing 2nd in 1:58.55.

“Like Calli, Chad had been knocking on the door for quite sometime and it was great to see him finally bust it down in a big way,” stated Mitchell. “The team is running well which is exactly what you want to see with the championships looming just 2 weeks away.”