By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- Members of the Willamette University track and field teams will start the 2023 season by hosting the Willamette Opener on Saturday, March 4. Action gets underway at 10 a.m. with field events and the running events will begin at 10:45 a.m. All events will be held at the Charles Bowles Track except for the hammer throw, which will take place at Corban University.

Willamette, Corban, Mount Hood Community College, Western Oregon University, the University of Oregon Running Club, and several additional club and individual athletes will be competing at the WU Opener. It will be a great opportunity for fans to see several area teams in action at the same time. In addition, the meet will feature four college track and field divisions -- Mount Hood from the NJCAA, Corban from the NAIA, Willamette from NCAA Division III, and Western Oregon from NCAA Division II.

The Willamette women's team will be led this season by returning competitors Sami Riggs (Sr., La Verne, CA/Bonita HS), Katherine Thornton (Jr., Reno, NV/Reno HS). Leanne Machado (Sr., Pendleton, OR/Pendleton HS), and Leila Fischer (Jr., Wenatchee, WA/Wenatchee HS). First-year distance runners Zoe Heino (Fy., Portland, OR/Mountainside HS) and Anna Bikle (Fy., Woodside, CA/Half Moon Bay HS) were top members of the WU women's cross country team this past season.

Riggs registered a time of 59.99 seconds to take fourth place in the 400-meter dash at the 2022 Northwest Conference Championships. She also broke the one-minute mark in the prelims with a time of 59.61 seconds. At the 2021 NWC Meet, she was sixth in both the 200-meter dash at 26.63 seconds and in the 400-meter dash at 1:00.37.

During the 2022 NWC Championships, Thornton earned fifth place in the 100-meter hurdles in 15.49 seconds and was seventh in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:10.14. She set a personal record in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2021 NWC Meet when she took third place in 1:07.17. In 2021, she placed fifth in the women's long jump at 16' 3.75".

Machado was ninth in the hammer throw at the NWC Championships last spring with a toss of 130' 0". Fischer placed 11th at the 2022 NWC Meet in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 5:07.88

Heino achieved 19th place at the NWC Cross Country Championships this past fall as she completed the 6-kilometer course in 22:53.4. Bikle was 22nd at the NWC Meet with a time of 23:11.9.

Key returning student-athletes for the Bearcat men's team this spring include Oliver Anderson (Sr., Salem, OR/Home Schooled), Simon Kidder (Jr., M, Bend, OR/Summit HS), Eric Kaszycki (Sr., Santee, CA/Santana HS), and Petey Swan (So., Crescent City, CA/Del Norte HS). Distance runners who excelled on the Willamette men's cross country team this past fall were William Hennum (Jr., Philomath, OR/Liberty HS, Nev.) and Jay Chew (Fy., Elk Grove, CA/Laguna Creek HS).

Anderson placed second at the 2022 NWC Championships in the triple jump with a distance of 44' 0.5". He added a fourth place finish in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.07 seconds. His time in the prelims was 10.91 seconds. At the NWC Championships in 2021, Anderson took fourth place in the 200-meter dash at 22.61 seconds. Also in 2021, Anderson placed eighth in the men's triple jump with a mark of 42' 10.25".

Kidder was fifth in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2022 NWC Meet as he recorded a time of 58.83 seconds. Kaszycki placed sixth in the discus throw with a top distance of 139' 2" and finished eighth in the hammer throw at 142' 2". Swan took sixth place in the NWC in the high jump by clearing 5' 8.75". 

Hennum earned 14th place at 2022 NWC Cross Country Championships this past fall with a time of 25:11.7 over the 8-kilometer course. Chew completed the race in 39th place at 26:14.5.

Willamette Head Track and Field Coach Matt McGuirk is in his 21st year leading the track and field teams and is in his 25th year on the WU coaching staff.