Mount Hood

Warner Leads Wolfpack

The Wolves captured four individual titles at their annual home meet, the John Knight Twilight hosted at McArthur Stadium on Friday, April 10.

Freshman sensation Cody Warner would win the 100-meter in just 11.00 seconds before winning the 200 in 22.09 seconds, his fourth sweep in the 100 and 200 events of his debut season for the Wolves. Warner was also a part of the third place finish in the men’s 4×100 meter relay team and placed sixth in the triple jump with a 12.60 meter leap.

The next two to capture their individual titles were Badane Sultessa and Kaleb Dobson.

Sultessa, the 800 All-American, won the 800 in 1 minute, 51.88 seconds. He then ran a leg of the men’s 4×400 team to help them to their third place finish.

Dobson also competed in four events on Friday in his debut season as a Wolf, making appearances on the 4×100 and 4×400 teams, finishing second in the 400 hurdles, running towards a 55.63 finish and picking up his individual title in the 110 hurdles, winning in 14.95 seconds.

Emmi Collier added two top-five finishes in the shot put and hammer throw. She finished second with 13.57 meters in the shot put and fourth in the hammer with a 47.01 mark, a personal record. Sam Moore also won the first flight of the shot put with 11.75, placing 10th overall.

Rebecca Laible placed second in the triple jump with 11.27, and Amanda Short would throw 40.20 in the javelin to place third.

Western alumni also came out for the yearly event. Former Wolf Landon Burmingham finished fourth in the men’s 200 in 22.85 before finishing fourth in the 400 in 50. 24. Most recent alumnus, Brady Beagley, finished first in the men’s 3,000 steeple in 9:12.88 while on the women’s side, former Wolf Jessica Harper won the 3,000 steeple in 11:39.93. Former Wolf Janna Vander-Meulen placed second in the women’s 100 hurdles in 15.02.

The Wolves have a busy weekend ahead as there are three meets spanning from Thursday, April 16 to Saturday, April 18. The Oregon Relays will be held in Eugene from Thursday to Saturday. The Mt. Sac Relays Thursday and Friday in Walnut, California and the Lewis and Clark Open on Saturday in Portland.

Hitting it out of the Park

By Jacob Mitchell - Freelancer

Western’s baseball team (18-19) had a busy few days this past weekend, playing a four-game series against Great Northwest Athletic Conference opponent St. Martin’s University (13-22).

Western would come out with a perfect 4-0 record on the weekend, keeping them atop the conference standings at No. 1. The series win came days after a victory over National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics powerhouse Lewis and Clark State College of Idaho (27-10).

Day one saw two more wins by the Wolves (7-1, 3-2), with junior Darrien Moran pitching for the duration of the game.

Moran’s pitching was top notch as he allowed one earned run on six hits to go along with a game-high tying six strikeouts, while picking up his fourth win of the season.

Adding to Moran’s success was junior Cody Sullivan and senior Matt Taylor, who both hit two triples; they would end up leading the Wolves at the end of the series with three hits apiece.

Day two of the series would go just as well for the Wolves, as they picked up two more wins for Western (13-4, 6-5). Pitcher Brady Miller took the mound and went 2-0, racking up his latest win for the Wolves.

The Saints could not handle the Wolves hitting game one, as Western breezed by for an easy 13-4 victory. The next day was a different story, with the wolves winning with a walk-off single by senior Michael Sherwin.

Western returns to the field Friday, April 17, when the Wolves open a five-game series against Montana State University Billings, starting with a suspended game from mid-March beginning at 1 p.m. at Dehlar Park in Billings, Montana.

Track divides team to succeed in three meets

By Jack Armstrong
 News Editor

Western’s track and field team split their athletes between three separate events this past weekend: the San Francisco Distance Carnival, the Stanford Invitational, and the Linfield Jenn Boyman Invitational.

The Wolves saw the most success at the San Francisco Distance Carnival. Junior shot putter Emmi Collier won her event overall throwing 12.96 meters, beating the competition by more than four inches. Men’s shot putter sophomore Jeremy Moore finished
third in his division with a throw of 14.81.

Freshmen hurdle runners Kaleb Dobson and AJ Holberg set season best times in the 400-meter hurdles. When asked about the preparation required of hurdle runners, fellow
freshman Rihei Grothmann said: “we do a lot of technical warm ups, like bounding and other exercises targeting our specific events.”

Grothmann was quick to point to the increased intensity of college track training.
“The training has definitely intensified from high school levels, but so far it has been fun,” Grothmann said.

Grothmann placed 13th overall in the 110 hurdles at the Linfield Jenn Boyman Memorial Invitational. The Linfield event resulted in six athletes setting personal bests. Sophomore Amanda Ditzhazy broke the five-minute mark for the 1,500, a career first for Ditzhazy who finished 9th overall.

Another freshman duo attending the Linfield Invitational, Alecia Falck and Sheila Limas De La Cruz, also posted season and career highs in the hammer toss, hitting 36.40 and 39.06 meters respectively.

The Stanford Invitational saw junior Badane Sultessa finish third and junior Josh Hanna finish sixth in the 800. Senior Rebecca Laible placed ninth in the triple jump while first-year Cody Warner finished ninth in the 100-meter dash finals.

The Wolves track and field will compete Friday, April 10, beginning at 2:30 p.m. at the annual John Knight Twilight event. The meet takes place on McArthur Field in Monmouth. Tickets are $6 for adults, $4 for non-WOU students, and free for WOU students.

Baseball matches rival

By Jacob Mitchell
 Freelancer

Western’s baseball team played a 4-game series last weekend, April 3-4, against preseason front runner Central Washington University, coming out 2-0 on Friday, but finishing Saturday at 0-2. Senior Jesse Pratt was named GNAC Pitcher of the Week after he pitched a one hitter in Friday’s win.

Western took game one Friday, April 3, in Ellensburg, Washington (3-2) over division rival and preseason favorite CWU.

Junior Darrien Moran pitched the opening five innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits, to be relieved by freshman Brady Miller and junior Jacob Storedahl. Western would go down 2-1 early in the game, only to battle back with two runs of their own to win 3-2.

Pratt tossed a season best one-hit game in the second game Friday, with Western’s blowout second win of the day (10-0) over Central Washington. The offense was spearheaded by juniors Nathan Etheridge and Cody Sullivan with a combined five hits each, as Etheridge went a perfect 4-for-4 in game two and Sullivan collected four RBIs and scored three runs by the end of the contest.

Day two of the series was a loss for the Wolves as they fell three runs to six in game one, and followed suit in game two by coming up short in a tough 4-9 loss to CWU.

The Wolves’ bullpen combined to allow two runs (one earned) on four hits over the final 6 innings with Domke registering a team-high two strikeouts; unfortunately, it was not enough for the W and the Wolves fell short.

Western will host Saint Martin’s University at home for a four-game series, starting Saturday at 1 p.m.

SOFTBALL SPLITS

By HAUNANI TOMAS
 Editor-in-Chief

Undeterred by losing in their first game, the Wolves pulled out a victory in the second game of their double-header against Saint Martin’s University to split in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play on Friday, April 4 at Lacey, Washington.

Although Western (15-22 overall, 7-5 GNAC) lost 5-9 to SMU in game one, the Wolves fought to beat the Saints in their second game to win 6-1.

“We had a few crucial errors during the first game that got them on a roll. [SMU is] a hard team to stop when they get going,” said pitcher Jourdan Williams.

Western remained scoreless for the first two innings of game one, until outfielder Amanda Evola scored a single RBI at the top of the third inning. The Saints led at the top of the third 2-1 thanks to a two-run home run hit by infielder Alyssa Slate.

Catcher and infielder Elaine Sperry tied the game 2-2 at the top of the fourth inning by hitting a double RBI. However, the Saints extended their lead by five at the bottom of the fourth.

Although infielder and outfielder Lexi Jennings hit a home run that also brought Williams home, the Wolves were still chasing to catch the Saints, lagging by three points 4-7 at the top of the fifth.

At the top of the seventh inning, Williams scored a single RBI to conclude game one.

Evola attributed Western’s game one defeat to a hitting deficit.

“If we can’t produce at the plate, we won’t win games,” said Evola.

And produced they did.

The Wolves maintained a three point lead throughout the first and second innings thanks to a two-RBI single hit by catcher Ku’ulei Siolo in the first and a home run by Jennings in the second.

Western allowed SMU one point in all of game two. At the bottom of the fifth, pitcher and infielder Sam Munger would be the only scorer for the Saints, attributing a single RBI.

“Our hitting was off during game one,” Evola said. “Once we were able to string some things together, we pulled out the win in game two.”

At the top of the seventh inning, the Wolves increased their lead by two to win the game 6-1.

“We had great defense and kept the momentum pretty much the whole game,” Williams said.

Williams, who pitched for the entirety of game two, said that she “hadn’t pitched for about three weeks” prior to their match-up against the Saints.

After their split against the Saints, Western prepares to take on their next GNAC opponent: Western Washington University. In their last game against the Vikings, the Wolves split to win game one and lose in the latter.

Team leaders Evola and Williams, acknowledged the speed of WWU’s batters.

“We’ve been working on our defense and being quick [be]cause [WWU] have some fast players. We’ve done a lot of hitting and worked quite a bit on the outside pitch. After last weekend, [we] have improved quite a bit with that pitch,” said Williams.

Evola also mentioned the team’s increased focus on batting.

“After playing WWU for the first time, we know we have to hit to be able to win the game. Most of our practices have been geared toward hitting and overall making us all confident at the plate,” said Evola.

The Wolves will play the Vikings for the second time in GNAC play on Saturday, April 11 at Bellingham, Washington.

Sultessa races into Western record books

By Rachel Shelley
Staff Writer

Three Wolves competed at the Indoor National Track meet in Birmingham, Alabama as Badane Sultessa raced towards becoming the third NCAA Division II Indoor All-American
in Western’s track and field history.

Sultessa finished the preliminary 800 meter as the top ranked runner finishing in 1 minute, 0.73 seconds Friday, March 13, setting himself up to join former Wolves Zeke Van Patten and Chris Olsen who became NCAA Division II All-Americans in the 800 in 2009 and 2013, respectively.

On Saturday, March 14, Sultessa finished fourth in 1:51.36, becoming an All-American and came within 0.66 seconds of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference record which he set during his preliminary performance, also a lifetime best in the event.

“It was a great experience and makes me want to work harder to become a better athlete,” Sultessa said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to race at the National meet, and I attribute hard work to my success.”

Brady Beagley ended his last season as a Wolf racing the mile at nationals. In the preliminaries, Beagley finished 12th overall in 4:14.84 during the first heat, finishing fourth in his heat.

“The indoor national meet was where my eyes have been set for the last eight months,” Beagley said. “It is the only reason I decided to extend my schooling another two terms. I wanted to end my career at Western with a nationals experience in all three of the sports I have competed in at least once and with this final indoor season I accomplished just that. I am very happy with my career as a Western Oregon student athlete, and cannot wait to use what I have learned from this institution in my future endeavors starting with the assistant cross country/track and field coaching position I have been appointed,” Beagley said.

Stephanie Stuckey competed for the women in the mile. Coming off a personal record to qualify for the national meet, Stuckey finished ninth in 4:54.79, another personal record, and qualified her for finals the following day. In the finals, she raced towards a 5:00.85 finish in her first ever appearance at nationals.

Quick off the blocks

By Rachel Shelley
 Freelancer

The outdoor track season wasted no time with four quick meets to start the season, the first three in Gresham and the Willamette Invitational hosted in Salem.

The Wolves brought home three individual titles the first meet, as Zach Holloway, Josh Hanna and Emmi Collier won their respective events.

Holloway won the steeplechase in 9 minutes, 32.71 seconds, edging the competition by over 30 seconds.

Hanna brought home the 800-meter title in 1:54.14, winning by 0.79 seconds.

Collier won the shot put with the fifth farthest toss in program history of 13.10 meters. She also placed second in the hammer throw in 42.88 meters.

The Wolves improved the following weekend, bringing home four individual titles from the Rose City Preview.

Cody Warner, David Ribich and Peter Zalk dominated their events. In the headwind, Warner raced to the 100 and 200 victories in 10.98 and 22.10, respectively. Ribich raced to
a time of 3:55.30, winning the 1,500 while Zalk cleared 4.05 meters in his first-ever pole vault performance for the Wolves, beating his competition by over four inches.

The women saw two second-place finishes when Bailey Beeson raced to a time of 2:15.84 in the 800 and Kylie Reinholdt finished behind an unattached competitor in the triple jump with 11.04 meters.

Sam Moore competed as the only Wolf at the Mt. Hood Multi-Events during the third weekend of the season. She finished with a total of 3,982 points in second place at her first-ever heptathlon.

The seven-event meet covered two days, leaving Moore 74 points ahead of second place after day one. The two days included the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, the 200, long jump, javelin and the 800.

Moore won Section 2 in the 100 hurdles in 16.23, and then earned a GNAC provisional mark in the high jump clearing 1.57 meters, placing second in that event.

“Multi-event athletes are so unique in the fact that they are so kind and “It was my first heptathlon and many of the girls helped me with my high jump steps or javelin, because I’ve literally never thrown it before. It’s like you’re surrounding by teammates and that’s a really unique experience,” Moore said.

During the Willamette Invitational, the Wolves finished with five individual titles. Rochelle Pappel, Badane Sultessa, Kaleb Dobson and Warner all took home title with Warner again sweeping in the 100 and 200.

Pappel won the 100 hurdles, beating five Alaska Anchorage runners in a time of 14.51. Dobson won his first-ever collegiate individual title in the 110 hurdles in 15.22 while Sultessa brought his success at Indoor Nationals to the outdoor track, winning the 800 in 1:52.65, the eighth fastest time in program history.

The Wolves will split up for their next meets on April 3-4 at four different locations along the West Coast including the Stanford Invite in Palo Alto, California, SF State Distance Carnival in San Francisco, Jenn Boyman Memorial Invitational in McMinnville and Spring Break Open in Portland.

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