PARKLAND, Wash. – Which would have been sweeter for Catherine Street on the first day of competition at the Northwest Conference Championships: a fourth consecutive pole vaulting title, or the all-time Division III outdoor record? Thankfully for the senior All-American, she didn’t have to choose.

Street accomplished both Friday afternoon at the Pacific Lutheran Track & Field Facility, clearing the bar at 13 feet 9¾ inches (4.21 meters) to become a four-time conference champion and surpass the previous record (13-8.25) by an impressive 1½ inches. She faced little challenge from her fellow competitors, defeating the runner-up by more than three feet.

Linfield earned a total of 13 points in the event, as first-year vaulter Amy Bumatai (Sr., Mililani, Hawaii) placed sixth after clearing the bar at a career-best 8 feet, 9 inches (2.67m).

In other field event action, Anna LaBeaume (Jr., Sequim, Wash.) took second in the discus (135-02/41.20m). Her career-best toss vaulted her from No. 9 to No. 5 on Linfield’s all-time list, and also marked the first time the sophomore has scored in the discus at the conference championships.

Teammate Courtney Alley (Jr., Eagle, Idaho) also recorded a career-best throw, placing fourth with a heave of 124 feet (37.81m).

Brooke Niemann (Soph., Bellevue, Wash.) dropped 17 seconds off her previous best time in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, finishing fifth. Her time (11:45.05) also moved her from No. 9 to No. 7 in the Wildcat record books.

Fellow distance runner Shanna Peaden took second in the 10,000-meter run, completing the race in 38 minutes, 43.28 seconds. The event winner, Emily Thomas of Lewis & Clark, literally ran circles around her competitors, winning by more than two minutes (36:38.08).

In all, Linfield totaled 39 points on the first day of action, enough for third place. Helped by its 29 points from the previous week’s heptathlon and by five women scoring in the long jump, George Fox leads the eight-team field with 61 points. Willamette is second (41), followed by Linfield, Pacific Lutheran (38), Whitworth (35), Lewis & Clark (32), Puget Sound (15) and Pacific (12).

Predictably, the distance crew paved the way for the Wildcat men on Day 1. Scott Gage, Arian Anderson and Joe Gladow all scored points in the 10,000. Gage was runner-up (31:51.48), Anderson placed fifth in a career-best time (33:01.55) and Gladow finished seventh (33:10.64).

Alex Van Slyke took third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. His time of 9 minutes, 32.25 seconds was a career outdoor-best.

The javelin also proved to be a fruitful event for the Linfield men, bearing four points between two competitors. Sean Boedeker took sixth (174-00/53.04m) while teammate Josh Melander was eighth (155-01/47.27m).

Competing in his first NWC Championships, first-year high jumper Dan Teater tied for fifth in his event, clearing the bar at six feet even (1.83m).

The Linfield men sit in fourth place through six scored events. Whitworth jumped out to an 82-point lead with 121 points. The closest threat is Willamette (39), trailed by Puget Sound (31), Linfield (30.5), Pacific Lutheran (23), Pacific (17.5) and George Fox (11).

NOTES: Street now owns the Division III pole vault records in both outdoor and indoor (13-9.25) competition…the previous best outdoor mark was recorded by Anna Heim of Moravian College in 2010.

NEXT: The second and final day of action at the PLU Track & Field facility begins at 10:30 a.m. Saturday with the women’s hammer, women’s high jump, men’s pole vault, men’s shot put and men’s triple jump. The first contested running event is the women’s 4x100 relay, scheduled for noon and followed immediately by the men’s relay.

Photo courtesy of John Froschauer, PLU Photo Services.