Track & Field | 3/15/2019 2:53:00 PM
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A large contingent of Western Washington University Track & Field team members will participate at the Doris Heritage Track Festival on Saturday at West Seattle Stadium.
The fourth annual Doris Heritage Track Festival is hosted by Seattle Pacific University in West Seattle. Field events start at 10 am with running events beginning with the men's 1500m at 11 am. Live Results can be followed online via WWUVikings.com/TF_Live.
This is the third outdoor event for the Vikings, taking home first-place finishes in team scoring by both the men and women at the UPS Ed Boitano Invitational (March 2) and the PLU Open (March 9).
Here are links on how to best follow the Doris Heritage Track Festival this weekend:
» Event Information
» Meet Schedule
» Meet Program
» Heat Sheets
» Live Results
"This is another great opportunity for our team to build off all the hard work they put in during the winter and get into competition mode with what is supposed to be great weather," said WWU head coach Pee Wee Halsell. "We have had some good early-season marks and results and look to continue to improve as we head into the big part of our season in April. I am looking forward to seeing the Vikings compete this weekend."
Saturday's meet is named in honor of Seattle distance running legend Doris Heritage, highly regarded as a pioneer for women's sports in general and women's running in particular. She won five straight international cross country titles, was a two-time Olympian, and coached track and cross country through four decades of service at Seattle Pacific University. This meet has been part of the Seattle track and field calendar since 1989. Through the first 27 years, it was put on by Club Northwest and was known as the Spring Break Open. SPU took over operation of the meet in 2016, and it was known as the Doris Heritage Distance Festival for the past two years before becoming the Track Festival in 2018.
The Vikings will take next week off for final exams and return to competition the weekend of March 28-31 at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic in Hayward, CA and the UBC Open in Vancouver, BC.
So far in three outdoor meets this season, the Vikings have had three new entries in the WWU Outdoor Track & Field record book and one entry in the GNAC All-time Outdoor Track & Field rankings. Freshman Paige Shimkus has recorded the 10th-best mark in the javelin in program history and 18th-best in GNAC history at 46.34m/152-0. Here is a look at the top marks that have entered the WWU all-time outdoor record book:
» Avery Lux – Hammer Throw (4th) – 54.90m/180-1
» Lexi Perry – Pole Vault (T9th) – 3.50m/11-5.75
» Paige Shimkus – Javelin (10th) – 46.34m/152-0
WWU will again host two home events, beginning with the WWU Team Invitational on April 5 and the Ralph Vernacchia Track & Field Meet on April 27. Both home events will be held at Civic Stadium in Bellingham.
WWU's long tradition in the javelin includes recent women's national champions Monika Gruszecki (2007 & 2011) and Bethany Drake (2014 & 2017), four-time First Team All-American Katie Reichert (2012, 2014, 2015, 2016) and current Viking Raquel Pellecer who was a First Team All-American last season.
For the men, Alex Harrison (2010), Slater Hirst (2014, 2015), John Haskin (2014, 2016) and Alex Barry (2018) have all been javelin All-Americans for the WWU men in the last nine years.
WWU has already had three NCAA II provisional marks in the javelin this season, with Raquel Pellecer (47.31m/155-2) ranking second, Paige Shimkus (46.34m/152-0) third and Hannah Nienaber (41.85m/137-4) seventh in the NCAA II rankings.
