Geoducks perform last few laps at CWU Invitational ahead of Conference Championships

In the lead-up for the upcoming Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Championships in early May, the Evergreen State College Track and Field team battled for their homestretch outdoor meets and competed at the Central Washington University Invitational on April 20 in Ellensburg.

Highlighting the meet for the Geoducks is Braxton Claridy, who, despite already qualifying for the conference meet, shattered his personal and school best in the men’s 200 meters after speeding in at 22.00 seconds for a 4th place finish in Ellensburg and 8th fastest time in the whole conference.

"Another week and another school record set. These athletes keep working hard and it has led to this whole program being elevated to standards never seen before," said Assistant Coach Katie Burnett on Claridy’s work.

Another notable performance for the Evergreen State came from another freshman student-athlete, Calvin Hume, who finished 8th in the men’s 110m hurdles and 7th in the men’s 400m hurdles, clocking in at 17.08s and 1:01.84. His time in the 400m hurdles event is good enough for a CCC qualifier, currently sitting as 13th fastest in the conference.

Distance runner Mark Tiersma, already qualified for the conference meet in the men’s 10,000 meters, also clocked in personal bests both in the men’s 1500 meters and 3000 meters, finishing the 1500-meter run at 4:18.59s for a 16th place finish and the 3k run at 9:11.81 which is good for a second-place finish.

Freshman sprinter Johahn Barney also set new personal records in the men’s 100 meters and 200 meters, speeding at 11.87s in the 100-meter dash and 23.87s in the 200 meters.

In the women’s events, Allison Deberry and Olivia Pare both set personal records in their respective events. Allison finished the women’s 200 meters at 29.29 seconds, while Olivia covered the women’s 5000 meters at 24:14.59.

Abigail Strickland, who already qualified for the conference meet in the 400m hurdles, also performed well in the women’s 100m hurdles after finishing 15th out of 21 competitors with a time of 17.72 seconds.

This track and field team will compete for their final meet in the outdoor season on Friday, April 26th, at the Oregon State University High-Performance Invite before the conference qualifiers will vie for the bigger prize in the CCC Championships on May 9-11, at Moehl Stadium in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Student-athletes who pass the national standard will also compete for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Outdoor Nationals on May 22-24 at Indiana Wesleyan University at Marion. At the time of writing, only Alauna Carstens (women’s 1500 meters and 5000 meters) and Corona Parker (heptathlon) have booked their tickets to represent Evergreen State College at the Outdoor Nationals.