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Off to the races: Zeller and Co. show up big at meets
The Advocate
Freshman Tyler Callahan broke the MHCC javelin record for the third time last weekend and several Saint athletes became auto-qualifiers for the NWAACC heptathlon and decathlon events earlier this week to cap a bustling series of competitions.
On Friday, the track and field team headed up to Western Oregon University for the John Knight Twilight Meet — and Callahan blew away the competition with a javelin throw of 215' 11''.
Callahan was the only individual to throw over 200 feet, with the next best throw coming in a couple inches over 199 feet.
This is the second time Callahan has broken his own record after setting a new school record in the beginning of March at the Eric Anderson Icebreaker meet.
Callahan's record-breaking effort highlighted an all-around day of successes for the Saints at Friday's meet.
Freshman Erica Drake placed second in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.52, freshman Laura Knudson placed third in the 400-meter dash (1:01.08), freshman Terra Zodrow placed third in the long jump (best jump of 5.13 meters) and freshman Robert Hanke's won the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 55.01 seconds.
"The weather was pretty good. A little breezy, but not too bad," said head coach Matt Hart, something that has become a rarity as the spring sports have been plagued this year with endless bouts of rain.
"We had some anxiety. We're slowly gaining experience. We had several really strong mid-seasons," said Hart.
One of MHCC's standout athletes, Chris Zeller, was pulled from some of his events. He passed on the 400- and 200-meter dashes, where he ranks second and first in the NWAACC, respectively, after some hamstring issues arose.
But pushing past injury, Zeller came back in full force at the Mt. Hood Multi Meet on Monday and Tuesday where he placed fourth overall with 5,656 points in the decathlon.
Sophomore Zach Young, and Hanke also competed in the decathlon and freshmen Terra Zodrow and Whitney Swenson competed in the heptathlon on the women's side.
Young placed sixth (missing fifth by one point) and Terra Zodrow placed second in the heptathlon.
Swenson, who was in first place after the first day's events, was forced to pull out after some health issues arose.
"Whitney had an awesome meet the first day. Apparently she went to the doctor and toward the end of the day she said she had strep throat," said Hart.
Swenson said, "If I had competed (Tuesday), I could have qualified for NWAACC (for heptathlon)."
Though Swenson wasn't able to compete Tuesday, she placed seventh and said she was excited to try something new, "It was my first time doing it. I liked it. It's fun to do all the events," she said.
In the 10-event decathlon (males) and the five-event heptathlon (females), competitors participate in a variety of sprinting, throwing, jumping and distance events ranging from the shot put, to the 1500-meter run.
Hart said, "It's the best of all worlds. It's the best athletes on the track," said Hart of the decathlon and heptathlon events.
Zeller said, "It was a lot of fun, but definitely a challenge. It was a lot of fun doing stuff that I've never done before and trying new things."
"I'm definitely going to do it again. I'm for sure going to do it at the NWAACC (championship meet).
With such big performances early on in by athletes, it begs the question of whether these individuals might peak early.
"Peaking is a myth. Peaking doesn't exist in a good program," said Hart, "Right now, we're transitioning from a fitness stage to a speed stage. Their level of fitness is higher than it has ever been in their lives. We're not anywhere close to peaking right now."
"I've got about 16 years of experience doing this and its highly prevalent that our athletes have big PRs at the end of the season," he said.
"I anticipate the same this year."
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