TACOMA, Wash. – The Western Washington University men's and women's track & field teams returned to action at the PLU Open on Saturday, with both teams turning in first-place finishes.
The Viking men recorded six first-place finishes while racking up 236 team points, well ahead of second-place Central Washington (203 points).
The WWU women recorded 206.5 points to finish ahead of second-place CWU (178.5 points), led by seven first-place finishes.
Sophomore Avery Lux was the top collegiate placer in the men's hammer throw, turning in a lifetime best mark of 54.90m/180-1. That mark moves him up to No. 4 in the WWU outdoor record book, an improvement of 8 feet over his previous PR of 52.45m/172-1.
Freshman Paige Shimkus won the women's javelin competition with a top mark of 46.34m/152-0, blowing past her previous best mark of 44.53m/146-1 set last week at the Ed Boitano Invitational. Shimkus moved up to No. 3 in the national rankings, trailing only Talena Murray of Angelo State (47.67m/156-5) and teammate Raquel Pellecer (47.31m/155-2). She also moved into the WWU all-time top-10 with the 10th-best mark in program history.
Junior Lexi Perry won the women's pole vault competition clearing 3.50m/11-5.75 to tie for the 9th-best mark in program history.
Here is a look at the team scores from the PLU Open:
|
Men's Team Scores
|
|
Women's Team Scores
|
|
1
|
Western Washington
|
236
|
1
|
Western Washington
|
206.5
|
|
2
|
Central Washington
|
203
|
2
|
Central Washington
|
178.5
|
|
3
|
Olympic College
|
66
|
3
|
Pacific Lutheran
|
123.5
|
|
4
|
Pacific Lutheran
|
54
|
4
|
Seattle Pacific
|
117
|
|
5
|
Seattle Pacific
|
46
|
5
|
Olympic College
|
26
|
|
6
|
Puget Sound
|
44
|
6
|
Puget Sound
|
21.5
|
|
7
|
Green River College
|
18
|
7
|
Green River College
|
13
|
|
8
|
Club Northwest
|
8
|
8
|
Saint Martin's
|
10
|
Women's Event Winners:
Men's Event Winners:
Complete results from the PLU Open can be downloaded at the following link:
The Vikings are back in action next Saturday (March 16) at the Doris Heritage Track Festival hosted by Seattle Pacific University at West Seattle Stadium.
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.
