Thornton Sets School Record in 100m Hurdles, Grant 3rd in Hammer at WOU

Monmouth, Ore. - Katherine Thornton set a new school record in the 100m Hurdles with a time of 14.70 at the John Knight Twilight meet on Saturday.  Thornton's time bested the previous record by just .02, the old mark set at 14.72 by Andrea May in 2007.  Thornton also had a personal best time in the 400m Hurdles and was joined by several Bearcat teammates with top ten finishes at the two-day event.

On the track, the Bearcats performed well in the 400m hurdles.  In addition to Thornton finishing fourth, Katie Briggs took 7th with a time of 1:08.62 and was followed by Mashani Coleman in thirteenth and Juniper Ammirati in fourteenth place with a personal best time of 1:10.48.

Anna Bikle led Willamette in both the 800m and 1500m races, taking 13th in the 800m, just ahead of teammate Morgan Shaw in 14th.  Grace Kosmicki had a season-best time in the same race and Leilani Luu put up the best time of her career.  Bikle ran a personal best time to finish 20th in the 1500m and again was just ahead of Shaw, who finished 23rd.  Anastasiia Lemesh and Katie Wingo both ran top times of their own in the 1500-meter run.  

In the field events, Tenley Grant took third in the Hammer Throw on Friday with a career-best distance of 48.93, which is #2 all-time at Willamette and #43 in NCAA Division III this season.  Grant also took sixth in the Shot Put and was followed by teammate Henri Osborne in seventh on a career-best throw. 

Whitley Stepp finished in fifth place in both the High Jump and the Long Jump to lead the Bearcats in both events.  Kaiona Apio had another top ten finish for Willamette by taking eighth place in the Javelin on Friday with a throw of 34.12 meters.

Willamette's next meet will be the Northwest Conference Championships on Saturday, March 26th, and Sunday, March 27th.  The two-day event will be hosted by Lewis & Clark College.