By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- The weather was great and the competition was strong at the West Coast Invitational in track and field on Saturday, May 12 at the Charles Bowles Track. The result for Willamette University was a string of top performances, as four Bearcats remained in the hunt for NCAA Division III Championship berths.

The meet was primarily filled with athletes from all nine West Coast Conference teams from NCAA Division I, as well as Willamette from NCAA Division III. The Bearcats were joined by athletes from several Northwest Conference teams, plus athletes from a few NCAA Division II and NAIA teams. A handful of running clubs also participated.

When the NCAA Division III performance list closes late this coming week, the top 22 women's athletes and the top 20 men's athletes in each event will qualify for the NCAA Division III Championships, set for May 24-26 at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges in Claremont, Calif.

Jaela Dinsmore (Sr., Hines, OR/Burns HS) from Willamette lowered her personal record time in the 100-meter dash to 12.09 seconds, a change of 0.08, as she won the race and moved into 13th place on the NCAA Division III performance list.

Dinsmore narrowly missed her top time while winning the 200-meter dash, finishing in 25.04 seconds, just 0.11 from her best mark. Her personal record of 24.93 seconds in the 200 is ranked 21st in the nation.

Leading the way for the Bearcat men's team was Kit Kingstad (So., Beaverton, OR/Beaverton HS), whose stellar effort in the top heat of the men's 1,500-meter run launched him from 37th place all the way up to 8th place on the national performance list. Kingstad lowered his personal record by more than four seconds, dropping it from 3:54.40 to 3:50.23.

Kingstad placed ninth overall and ninth in the first heat, which featured three times under 3:46 and six times under 3:48. Jared Bassett from the University of Portland won the 1,500 with a time of 3:45.46.

In addition, Kingstad moved into third on Willamette's all-time list in the 1,500 behind Nick Symmonds '06 (3:40.91 in 2004) and Stefan Redfield '11 (3:50.07 in 2011).

Brandi Miller (Sr., Grants Pass, OR/North Valley HS) of WU, who began the weekend in 26th place on the national list in the heptathlon, advanced her position to 15th place. She won the heptathlon with a score of 4,381 to improve by 240 points over her previous season best. She missed her personal record of 4,406 by 25 points.

Miller earned her top event score of 746 points in the 800-meter dash with a time of 2:25.80. She gained 729 points from the 200-meter dash, wish she completed in 26.79 seconds. She tallied 723 points with a time of 15.93 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles.

Michaela Freeby (Fr., Milwaukie, OR/Rex Putnam HS) reduced her top time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to below the 11-minute mark at 10:57.44, as she finished fifth in the race. In the process, she broke her previous personal-best time by 5.73 seconds.

She advanced into third place on Willamette's all-time list behind Kimber Mattox '11 (10:23.34 in 2011) and Jena Winger '09 (10:42.08 in 2009).

Freeby opened the weekend ranked 19th in the nation, but began the race listed 23rd after four runners competing across the country lowered their times on Friday and Saturday. She surged back into 19th place with her solid result Saturday night.

Carrie Dimoff, running for Bowerman Athletic Club, won the women's steeplechase in a Charles Bowles Track record time of 9:59.72. She lowered the track record by over 40 seconds. The previous top mark was set by Laura Hottentrott-Freitag from the University of Portland at 10:40.24 during the Willamette Invitational earlier this season.

Four Charles Bowles Track Records Set

A total of four Charles Bowles Track records were broken during the meet. In addition to the record set by Dimoff in the women's steeplechase, other track records were established in the men's 400-meter dash, the men's 5,000-meet dash and the men's high jump.

Antoine Drakeford, running unattached, set the 400-meter record with a time of 46.35 seconds. He broke the old mark of 47.44 second set 36 years ago by Carl Shaw of Linfield College in 1976.

Jared Ward of Brigham Young University set the new record in the 5,000 by winning the race in 13:52.05. He lowered the old record of 13:54.04, set by Nolan Swanson of Asics in 2004.

Justin Frick from Shore Athletic Club broke the high jump record. He cleared 7' 2.5" to surpass the previous track record of 7' 2", recorded by Scott Radetich of Linfield in 1996.

Other Top Willamette Results

In addition to the four Willamette athletes who stayed in the race for NCAA berths, several other Bearcats achieved season-best marks at the West Coast Invitational or earned marks near their peak performances this year.

Men's Team

Paul Winger (Sr., Bonney Lake, WA/Bonney Lake HS) placed second in both the 200-meter dash in 22.06 seconds and the 400-meter dash in 48.64 seconds. Both times were season-bests for the Bearcat sprinter and were close to his personal records of 21.98 seconds in the 200 and 48.57 seconds in the 400.

Neal Howard (Sr., Seattle, WA/Ballard HS) took fourth place in the 200 with a time of 22.66 seconds, which was his top time of the season.

Tom Fiechtner (So., Poway, CA/Cathedral HS) was third in the 400 in 50.80 seconds. He set a new personal record, lowering his previous best of 50.94, set last year at the NWC Championships.

Ben Donovan (Sr., Minneapolis, MN/South HS) finished ninth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at 9:27.27.

Spencer Clemmer (Sr., Sacramento, CA/Elk Grove HS) won the decathlon with a personal record of 5,579 points. His top event was the pole vault, where he scored 746 points by clearing 14' 7.25".

Carson Kennedy (Fr., Forest Grove, OR/Forest Grove HS) was second in the decathlon at 5,298 points. Kennedy's top score was 736 in the 110-meter hurdles as he matched his personal record of 15.97 seconds. He set a new personal record of 11.61 seconds in the 100-meter dash to score 730 points.

Max Faulhaber (So., Eugene, OR/Sheldon HS) won the hammer throw with a top distance of 174' 10". He edged out teammate Wyatt Briggs (Jr., Scio, OR/Scio HS), who took second place at 174' 8.25".

Women's Team

Theresa Edwards (Sr., Lake Tapps, WA/Bonney Lake HS) placed 11th out of 23 runners in the 1,500-meter dash. Her time was 4:42.34.

Katie Mariman (So., Sherwood, OR/Sherwood HS) was third in the pole vault at 11' 2.25". It was her top vault of the season, placing her 40th on the national performance list.

Kelsey Engstrom (Fr., Clinton, WA/South Whidbey HS) took first place in the hammer throw at 130' 2.50", as she set a personal record. Taryn Greenberg (Fr., Newport Beach, CA/Corona Del Mar HS) was third at 120' 10.75" and Kaeleigh Thorp (Fr., San Leandro, CA/Encinal HS) was fourth with a personal record of 119' 0.25".

Rebekah Daniel (So., Silverdale, WA/Central Kitsap HS) claimed second place in the heptathlon with a personal record score of 3,937 points. Her previous best was 3,683 points at the 2012 NWC Championships.