SPOKANE, Wash. – The track and field teams from The Evergreen State College set school records and personal records during the Whitworth Indoor Invitational on Friday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 14. The meet was hosted by Whitworth University at The Podium.
On Friday, the Evergreen women's 4,000-meter distance medley relay team achieved a school record of 12:59.26 and took third place behind the efforts of
Sylvie Biesack (Fr.),
Merecedies Dupont (Fr.),
Dani Buttrell (Fr.), and
Alauna Carstens (Jr.). In the men's 4,000-meter distance medley relay, also on Friday,
Nathaniel Sanchez (Fr.),
Austin Major (So.),
Daniel Sanchez (Fr.), and
Osvaldo Calderon (So.) finished for the Geoducks in 11:18.11, while moving into second place on Evergreen's all-time list.
Results from Friday also included strong performances from the Geoducks in the women's 5,000-meter run and the men's 5,000-meter run with a series of results on Evergreen's top 10 lists.
In the women's 5,000-meter run, Biesack took fifth place in the race with a time of 19:58:24 while claiming third place in school history.
Izabelle Trefts (Sr.) took over fourth on the all-time list by completing the race in 20:20.01.
Soleil Bianchi (Fr.) was timed at 20:58.88 to grab eighth place all-time at Evergreen.
For the men's team in the 5,000-meter run,
Max Baeder (So.) reached the finish line in 16:03.32 to move into second place all-time for the Geoducks.
Evan Williams (So.) ran the race in 17:02.69 to advance into fourth place in school history.
"Congrats to the new indoor school record holders in the women's distance medley relay!" said Evergreen Head Cross Country and Track and Field Coach
Joel Pearson. "I was pleased how they opened their first DMR!
"I was really encouraged by our 5k runners, who had a better team showing than last year!" Pearson added.
Friday's schedule at the Whitworth Indoor Invitational also featured the men's long jump and the men's weight throw.
Jarvae Lindsay (Fr.) from Evergreen moved into second on the Geoduck's all-time list in the long jump with a distance of 6.01 meters (19' 8.75").
Paul Stewart (So.) registered a mark of 11.12 meters (36' 5.75") in the weight throw to set a personal record.
On Saturday, Evergreen athletes produced several quality results.
Deandre Wright (Fr.), who set the school record and a personal record at 6.89 seconds in the men's 60-meter dash prelims. He had the sixth-fastest time of the prelims out of 70 runners. Wright advanced to the finals and placed sixth with a time of 6.95 seconds. Jed Barnaby from Lewis-Clark State College won the men's 60-meter dash in 6.74 seconds.
In the men's pole vault,
Jonathan Van Pelt (So.) tied his own school record when he cleared 4.35 meters (14' 3.25"). He was part of a three-way tie for fourth place at the meet. A fourth vaulter also cleared 4.35 meters but took seventh place on jumps. Justin Krabbenhoft from Eastern Oregon University won the pole vault at 4.65 meters (15' 3.00"). Brett Olmstead of Bushnell University also was successful at 4.65 meters. He took second place on jumps.
Carstens earned fourth place in the women's mile run with a time of 5:05.64. She was just 1.64 seconds away from the NAIA "B" qualifying time of 5:04.0. The women's mile was won by unattached athlete Charlotte Dillon in 4:58.00.
Earlier this season, Carstens qualified for the 2026 NAIA Indoor Track and Field Championships in the women's 3,000-meter run. On Saturday, she took second place at the Whitworth meet in the 3,000 at 10:21.18.
For Evergreen in the men's 800-meter run,
Nathaniel Sanchez registered a time of 2:04.09 and Majors completed the race in 2:07.75. In the women's 800-meter run, Buttrell was timed at 2:28.53 and Dupont finished in 2:46.81.
"I was really proud of the team this weekend," Pearson commented. "We had a lot of ups and downs but seeing them work hard together was encouraging!
"We had great performances on Saturday in the men's and women's 800, as well as Alauna running a great mile and workout in the 3k," Pearson said.
