April 21, 2008
Results
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Western Washington University's Michelle Howe (Fr., Lakewood) is fourth in the heptathlon after first-day action Monday at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Multi-Events Championships being held at Tomlinson Stadium on the Central Washington University campus.
Howe had 2,451 points after the first four events. Defending champion Jacque Postlewait from Western Oregon is the leader with 2,853, followed by teammate Mandy Keifer 2,483 and Central's Raquel Gonzalez 2,462. The Vikings' Clara Cook (Jr., Wenatchee) is sixth at 2,396.
Howe ran the 100 hurdles in 14.89 (856), cleared 4-7 (512) in the high jump, had a mark of 24-9 (370) in the shot put and completed the 200 in 26.98 (713). The efforts in the shot put and 200 were both personal bests.
Cook had season bests in all four events, having the day's best effort of 5-4 1/2 (783) in the high jump. She posted times of 16.73 (627) in the 100 hurdles and 28.63 (582) in the 200, and tossed the shot put 26-5 3/4 (404).
Postlewait had the day's top times in the 100 hurdles (14.82, 866) and the 200 (26.10, 788), and Keifer was the best in the shot put at 33-3 3/4 (539).
"That could be a very good competition for second place," said Western coach Pee Wee Halsell. "Both Michelle (Howe) and Clara (Cook) had decent days."
In the decathlon, defending champion Zeb Udell is the leader with a five-event total of 3,278 points. Central's Nick Collins is second at 3,094.
Western's Kevin Iverson (Jr., Mill Creek/Jackson) is sixth at 2,833, ending the day with the best clocking in the 400 of 53.19 (673). He ran the 100 in 12.0 (651) and had marks of 18-8 (521) in the long jump, 31-5 1/4 (460) in the shot put and 5-6 (528) in the high jump.
The Vikings' Darren Edwards (So., Arlington) is ninth at 2,175 and Alex Harrison (R-Fr., Edmonds/Edmonds-Woodway) is 10th at 1,434. Both did not finish the 400, Edwards suffering a hamstring pull on the final turn and Harrison being bothered by a sprained ankle. Both are expected to compete Tuesday.
"Kevin (Iverson) had a good day except for the long jump," Halsell said. "There's still room to move up and he could do that."
Udell had the best efforts of 11.3 (795) in the 100 and 21-2 (686) in the long jump. Collins had the top mark of 37-6 1/2 (572) in the shot put and Western Oregon's Tommy Woolf cleared a best of 6-2 1/4 (705) in the high jump.
Action begins Tuesday at 10 a.m. The remaining events in the decathlon are the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 400. In the heptathlon, the events left are the long jump, javelin and 800.
