EUGENE, Ore. & RENTON, Wash. – The Western Washington University Track & Field team was spread across the Northwest Saturday with competition held at the Oregon Preview and the Doris Heritage Track Festival.
 
WWU's contingent at historic Hayward Field recorded six program top 10 times on Saturday to go with three top-10 marks in the men's 10,000m Friday night.
 
At the Doris Heritage Track Festival hosted by Seattle Pacific University at Renton Memorial Stadium, WWU recorded a pair of event wins and six total top three finishes.
 
In Eugene, WWU held its own matching up against several Division I programs including meet host University of Oregon. Sophomore Jonah Bloom won the 800m race in 1:52.59 to enter the WWU record book at No. 10 in program history. Sophomore sprinter Nolan Mickenham placed 4th in both the 100m (10.77) and 200m (21.99), with his 100m time ranking 8th in program history. He was edged by teammate Noah Johnson clocking 10.761.
 
Sophomore Brian Le placed 4th in the men's 400m in 48.35 to move up to No. 6 in WWU outdoor history. The men's 4x100 relay team placed 2nd in 41.52 to tie for the 5th-best time in program history.
 
Sophomore Miller Campbell led WWU's field event entries placing 4th in the hammer throw with a toss of 53.87m/176-9 to move up to No. 8 in WWU history.
 
Junior Marian Ledesma paced the Viking women's squad with a 2nd-place finish in the 800m with a time of 2:12.76 to rank No. 2 in WWU history. Ledesma barely missed an NCAA provisional qualifying mark (2:12.23). Sophomore sprinter Caitlyn Cheney turned in another solid performance placing 2nd in the 100m (12.29) and 8th in the 200m (25.51).
 
WWU went 3-4-5 in the women's 1500m race, with sophomore Mia Crocker leading the way with a 4:33.01 to narrowly miss her PR of 4:32.34 and sophomore Ila Davis just missing a top 10 program mark in 4:36.23. A complete listing of WWU's results from the Oregon Preview can be found at this link.
 
At the Doris Heritage Track Festival, freshman Jaden Johnson won the men's 200m in 22.46 and freshman Emmy Kroontje won the women's 800m in 2:18.76. A complete listing of WWU's results from the meet held at Renton Memorial Stadium can be found at this link.
 
Friday's historic performance in the men's 10,000m at Hayward Field included four Viking men running a sub 30-minute 10K. Led by a school-record performance from George Karamitsos in 29:40.69, the Viking four finished as a pack placing 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th in a deep 14-runner field to open the Oregon Preview.
 
Karamitsos edged teammate Andrew Oslin, who set the WWU record of 29:41.92 set at the season-opening Ed Boitano Invitational on March 3. Oslin placed 7th in 29:45.88 for 7th place. Kevin McDermott clocked 29:48.23 to place 8th with the No. 4 time in program history and Jeret Gillingham was 9th in 29:54.66 to rank 5th in the WWU outdoor record book. Teammate Ryan Clough did not run in the event and now holds the No. 8 time in program history with 29:55.94 set earlier this month.
  The Vikings are back in action next weekend with the two-day UBC Open hosted by the University of British Columbia March 25-26 at the Rashpal Dhillon Oval in Vancouver. The complete 2023 WWU Track & Field schedule can be viewed online at WWUVikings.com/TF.