The Seattle University track and field team began its final preparations for the conference championships, setting three school records and several personal best marks Friday at the High Performance Meet, hosted by Oregon State University at the Whyte Track and Field Center.
The first Seattle U record of the day came in the first track event, as the quartet of Alyssa Gonzales (Pasadena, Calif.), Abby Wachter (Beaverton, Ore.), Maia Sparkman (Langley, Wash.), and Madison Lichter (Snohomish, Wash.) set a new school record in the 4x100 meter relay with a mark of 48.24 seconds. The team finished third in a time three-quarters of a second quicker than the previous record set four years ago.
In the women’s 400 meter run, Candice de Sauvage (Foster City, Calif.) finished third with a time of 56.72 seconds, breaking the four-year-old school record by over one half-second. The senior now holds the 400 meter run record in both indoor and outdoor, plus she is part of both indoor relay school records (4x400 meter, distance medley).
The final school record came in the final track event Seattle U participated in, as Joe Charbonneau (Bellingham, Wash.) set the new record in the men’s 5000 meter run, finishing sixth overall in a time of 14:29.28. Charbonneau’s time was almost nine seconds quicker than the previous mark set by Gus Arroyo (Portland, Ore.), who also came in under the school record time with a mark of 14:33.72, good enough for ninth place.
Shaddye Melu (Auburn, Wash.) came close to the school record in the men’s 400 meter dash, finishing second overall with a time of 47.55 seconds, just 3/100ths of a second off the school record and over 3/10ths of a second better than the meet record. Also in the sprints, Zac Schlachter (Tigard, Ore.) posted season-best times of 10.91 seconds in the 100 meter dash and 21.94 seconds in the 200 meter dash.
Individually in the sprinting events, Gonzales earned season-best times of 12.37 seconds in the 100 meter dash and 25.86 seconds in the 200 meter dash, while Lichter finished the 100 meter dash in a personal-best time of 12.57 seconds and the 200 meter dash in 26.29 seconds. Mandy Rusch (Redmond, Wash.) finished the 400 meter dash in a season-best time of 58.25 seconds.
In the women’s 800 meter run, Madison Davis (Camano Island, Wash.) finished fourth in her heat in 2:14.03, with Alisa Poplawski (Newcastle, Wash.) finishing seventh in the same heat in 2:15.75.
Sophie Curatilo (Honolulu, Hawaii) finished eighth in her section of the 1500 meter run with a time of 4:30.14, with Lila Rice (Redmond, Wash.) crossing the finish line seventh in her section in 4:37.44 and Moira O’Connor Lenth (Seattle, Wash.) finishing fifth in her heat in 4:44.41. On the men’s side, Collin Overbay (Spokane, Wash.) posted a time of 4:00.98 in the 1500 meter run invitational, while Louis Rodrigues (Alameda, Calif.) finished fourth earlier in the day in his section of the 1500 meter run in a season-best time 4:00.31.
Elena Smith (Seattle, Wash.) led the Redhawks in the women’s 5000 meter run with a personal-best time of 17:32.38, ahead of Taylor de Laveaga (Gilbert, Ariz.) in 17:42.54 and Emily Hedberg (Phoenix, Ariz.) in 18:43.40. Elsewhere in the men’s 5000 meter run, Chay Weaver (Louisville, Colo.) posted a time of 14:58.73, followed by Nathan McLaughlin (Puyallup, Wash.) in 15:03.48, Tyler Flannery (Auburn, Wash.) and Matthew Seidel (Santa Clara, Calif.) in 15:05.08, and Ben Monk (Olympia, Wash.) in 15:06.20.
Wachter posted a time of 67.43 seconds in the 400 meter hurdles, just behind Katie Fleming’s (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) mark of 66.50 seconds. Fleming also led the Redhawks in the women’s triple jump with a mark of 10.82 meters (35’ 6”), ahead of Mariah Gibbs (Banks, Ore.) with a mark of 10.68 meters (35’ 0.5”) and Sandy Dasalla Good (Mountlake Terrace, Wash.) with a mark of 10.18 meters (33’ 4.75”).
Gibbs also posted a personal-best time in the 100 meter hurdles with a mark of 15.87 seconds, ahead of Mandie Maddux’s (Gresham, Ore.) time of 16.53 seconds. Maddux also competed in the shot put, finishing with a mark of 11.32 meters (37’ 1.75”) and in the long jump, posting a top effort of 4.82 meters (15’ 9.75”). Valerie Wu (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) posted a mark of 4.87 meters (15’ 11.75”) in the long jump.
In the throwing events, Chris Scaffa (Lake Oswego, Ore) posted a personal-best mark of 46.55 meters (152’ 9”), ahead of Malaki Seanoa (Everett, Wash.) at 44.56 meters (146’ 2.5”) and Devon Walker (Ventura, Calif.) at 42.33 meters (138’ 10.75”). Seanoa posted a mark of 52.71 meters (172’ 11.5”) in the javelin throw, ahead of Scaffa’s mark of 48.13 meters (157’ 11.25”), and Walker earned a mark of 42.87 meters (140’ 8”) in the discus throw.
The Seattle University track and field team will stay close to home for its final regular season meet, competing in the Ken Shannon Invitational hosted by the University of Washington at the Husky Track Stadium next Saturday, May 9, beginning at 10 a.m.