The Evergreen State College Track & Field programs competed on Friday, April 5^th, at the John Knight Twilight Invite, held in Monmouth at Western Oregon University campus, on their McArthur Track & Field and Football facility.

Highlighting the invite was sophomore Alauna Carstens winning the Women's 1500 in an NAIA 'A' National Standard time of 4:35.88! Alauna took the lead with 350 meters left in the 1500-meter race and held on to win by 2 seconds. The freshman now has two 'A' standard marks, both being ranked in the top-10 nationally.

"Alauna has been crushing it in workouts and we've been talking about being more aggressive in races, which paid off really well today. She PR'd by over 5 seconds and it was great watching her take command of the race and make it her own." Said Assistant Coach Katie Burnett.

Consistency has been a big part of the last few weeks of training and competition for the freshman duo Paul Stewart and Mark Tiersma. Paul, competing in the Hammer, had five of his six throws better than his personal best, qualifying for the finals to finish 9th. Mark ran the 2^nd best 5k of his career, and the 3^rd time he's broken the 16:00 barrier this spring, which is more impressive when understanding his personal best was 17:12 when he arrived on Evergreen's campus in August.

Personal bests came well for the Women's program with junior Allison Deberry, running in her first track & field meet in 8 years, completed the 7^th (100m) and 6^th (200m) best all-time performances in school history with times of 14.08 and 29.48. Freshman Tanisha Engram set personal records with the 8^th (Discus) and 6^th (Shot Put) best performances in school history with 22.70m and 7.82m.

"The Geoduck family continues to grow and impress!" stated Head Coach Joel Pearson. "This meet was on my year anniversary of being the leader of this great family, and seeing personal best, all-time marks, school records, a recruit who called to commit, and a national 'A' standard really brought out a lot of happiness for me! Thank-you to the entire family! Looking forward to several greeners competing next week" 

Geoducks return to action Friday and Saturday, April 12^th and 13^th, at the Lewis and Clark Larry Byerly Invitational in Portland.

Geoduck Performances:

Women's 100: Allison Deberry, 14.08 (7^th All-Time)
Women's 200: Corona Parker, 28.69
Women's 200: Allison Deberry, 29.48 (6^th All-Time)
Women's 1500: Alauna Carstens, 4:35.88 (School Record, National A Standard)
Women's Long Jump: Corona Parker, 5.08m (PR, 2^nd All-Time)
Women's Discus: Colbi Stewart, 27.20m
Women's Discus: Tanisha Engram, 22.70m (Personal Record, 8^th All-Time)
Women's Discus: Jalyn Sackrider, NM
Women's Shot Put: Corona Parker, 9.24m
Women's Shot Put: Tanisha Engram, 7.82m (Personal Record, 6^th All-Time)
Women's Javelin: Corona Parker, 23.73m
Women's Hammer: Claire Ryan, 32.47m
Men's 200: Braxton Claridy, 22.96
Men's 1500: Chase Fidiam, 4:37.07 (Personal Record)
Men's 1500: River Scheuerell, 5:00.73 (Personal Record)
Men's 5,000: Mark Tiersma, 15:44.20
Men's Hammer: Paul Stewart, 35.60 (Personal Record)