Evergreen State College’s Scheuerell sets national standard in 5k racewalk, breaks 39-year school record

In one of the final athletic meets before the conference championships, Evergreen State College’s River Scheuerell won in his first-ever 5000-meter racewalk in the USATF Oregon Association 5K Race Walk Championship held at Rex Putnam High School last Sunday, April 28th, with his performance enough to qualify not just to the conference, but to the nationals.

His winning time of 26:49.77 in the 5k racewalk last week just passed above the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National ‘B’ Standard, propelling him to the national championships later this May.

The junior student-athlete's sub-30 performance also broke the 39-year-old school record previously held by Larry Smith, who had the fastest time in the event at 30:26.20 in 1985 before Scheuerell’s performance in Oregon.

"It's fantastic to have River qualify for nationals in his first-ever race! He has only been race-walking since the end of cross country, so to see him come through and qualify this past weekend is phenomenal," said Assistant Coach Katie Burnett.

He will join Alauna Carstens and Corona Parker as representatives of the Geoducks in the NAIA Outdoor National Track & Field Championships to be held from May 22-24 at Indian Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana.

Carstens qualified in the nationals after passing the NAIA ‘A’ Standards in the women’s 1500 meters and women’s 5000 meters while Parker qualified through her performances in the conference championship in heptathlon.

On a separate meet held on the same day, freshman Claire Ryan is the last from Evergreen State to qualify for the conference championships after placing 2nd in women’s hammer throw at the Olympia Hammer Series held at the Evergreen State College campus.

Ryan felt comfortable on her home ground as she pulled a 39.85m throw which is not only a new personal record and the school’s 3rd best, but also is enough for a conference qualification in the said event.

The Evergreen State Track & Field team will compete in one of their biggest tests this weekend as they vie against other universities in the Cascadia in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championships to be hosted by the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, Oregon at their Moehl Stadium on May 10-11.

The list of athletes who will represent the Greeners in the conference finale is listed here.