By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

MONMOUTH, Ore. -- The Willamette University women's 4 x 100-meter relay team took first place at the John Knight Twilight on Friday, April 7. The meet, hosted by Western Oregon University, was held at McArthur Field.

Competing on Willamette's winning 4 x 100-meter relay team were Sallie Tucker (Fr., Buena Vista, CO/Buena Vista HS), Jewell Sparks (Jr., San Francisco, CA/Lick Wilmerding HS), Maura Forbush (Sr., Hollister, CA/San Benito HS) and Teneah Rushen (Jr., Portland, OR/Franklin HS). They earned a time of 50.14 seconds to win by 0.40. Clark College (Wash.) placed second in 50.54 seconds.

Athletes participating in the meet battled cold, windy, and often rainy, conditions.

That didn't stop the Bearcats from placing between second and fifth a total of nine times. The Bearcats grabbed second place twice, third place three times, fourth place once and fifth place three times.

Hannah Swanson (Jr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) placed second out of 18 athletes in the women's 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:46.77. Niole Maurmann from Western Oregon won the event in 4:43.79.

Olivia Mancl (Sr., Seattle, WA/Roosevelt HS) took second in the women's 5,000-meter run. Mancl, who was competing for the first time this season after recovering from an injury, registered a time of 18:44.94. Dana Fry from the University of Oregon Running Club won the race in 18:27.39.

In the women's 100-meter hurdles, Willamette's Melissa Scott (Fr., Tustin, CA/Beckman HS) placed third in 17.15 seconds. She missed second place by just 0.25.

Also for the Bearcats, Jewell Sparks (Jr., San Francisco, CA/Lick Wilmerding HS) took third place in the women's 400-meter hurdles at 1:06.06. She was second in the first heat, trailing only the overall winner, Alexi Whatley from St. Martin's University (Wash.), who was timed at 1:05.08.

Hazel Carr (So., Seattle, WA/The Northwest School) earned third place for Willamette in the women's 800-meter run with a personal record time of 2:24.15. Carr led for most of the first heat, before Natalie Smith from University of Portland, took the lead with about 100 meters remaining. Smith placed second overall in 2:22.41. Maddy Lyons from Portland, who ran in the second heat, won the event in 2:20.79.

Carr's previous top time in the 800-meter run was 2:24.45 at this year's Willamette versus Corban Dual on March 16.

Jack Wellman (Jr., Alameda, CA/Alameda HS) achieved fourth place in the men's 400-meter dash. His time was 50.86 seconds, as he missed third place by 0.05.

RoShaan Rogers (Jr., Roseville, CA/Woodcreek HS) placed fifth in the men's 110-meter hurdles with a time of 16.70 seconds. In the men's 200-meter dash, D'Angelo Guiton (Jr., Alameda, CA/Bishop O'Dowd HS) was fifth out of 19 runners in 23.98 seconds. He was just 0.16 out of third place.

Rushen, in addition to helping WU win the women's 4 x 100-meter relay, took fifth place in the 100-meter dash. Her time of 13.50 seconds matched the time of Karrin Shriner from Northwest Christian University (Ore.), but when times were rounded to thousandths of a second, Shriner finished fourth by 0.006.

Personal Records for Younger Bearcats

In addition to Carr's personal record in the women's 800-meter run, the Bearcats had another sophomore and three freshmen who set personal records on Friday.

Emily Evans (So., Anchorage, AK/South Anchorage HS) recorded a new personal best in the women's 1,500-meter run at 5:03.90. She broke her previous top time of 5:04.64 at the Mount Hood Open last season.

Hope Duenas (Fr., Covina, CA/Covina HS) established a career mark in the women's hammer throw with a top distance of 129' 5". She easily broke her old personal record of 116' 7".

Josh Martin (Fr., Medford, OR/St. Mary's School) from the Bearcat men's team set personal records in three throwing events. His achieved new best marks of 136' 7.25" in the hammer throw, 128' 8" in the discus throw and 44' 7.50" in the shot put.

Elijah Hall-Crockett (Fr., Phoenix, AZ/Cesar Chavez HS) set a personal record in the men's triple jump. His best combined distance was 42' 2.75".

Up Next for the Bearcats

Willamette's track and field teams will compete at the NWC Multi-Event Championships on Monday, April 10 and Tuesday, April 11 in Forest Grove, Oregon. Events begin at 10 a.m. (PDT) on Monday and at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

The Bearcats also will participate in the Azusa Pacific Invitational on Thursday, April 13. Action is set to begin at 4 p.m.