Pioneer LogLewis & Clark College’s Student-Run Newspaper

Track dominates at home invite, sights on conference

April 23, 2010

by Rachel Levitsky

The track team hosted the Lewis & Clark Invite last weekend, competing one last time before the Northwest Conference (NWC) championship which will be held at Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash. this weekend.

Posting four more NWC qualifying marks at the LC Invite, the team will be sending 34 members to the conference meet.

The women’s team qualified at least one individual in each of the 21 conference events, and will have a chance to score in every event except the hurdles, which they are not competing in.

“The women’s team is having a historic season,” said track and field coach David Fix. “It’s going to be a fight for third [at championships], which would be a great finish for us.”

First-year Illana Livstrom will be an outstanding performer to watch, heading into championships ranked first in the 1500 m and fifth in the 5000 m.

Liska Havel (’10), also a notable competitor, should bring in points. She ranks seventh in the 100 m and fourth in the 200 m, and anchors both relays.

Cheyenne Feliz (’11) qualified in third place in the 400 m, but has finished fourth the past two years at championships. This year she is in an excellent position to step onto the podium and medal.

Another competitor to watch in the field is Kelly Yelverton (’13) in the pole vault. Yelverton is now tied for fourth in ranking heading into the championship meet.

 Other women to watch include Corinne Innes (’12), ranked second in the steeplechase, and Emily Thomas (’13), ranked third in the 10,000 m. Thomas broke the freshman record in this event earlier in the season.

Alla Khalitova (’10) will compete in the high jump, ranking second currently.

On the men’s side, the team is very young and has been plagued by injuries, making it tougher to qualify for NWC championships.

Kevin Carpenter (’12) is ranked fourth in the 100 meters and eighth in the 200 meters, but is not healthy.

Karl Dickman (’10) is ranked third in the 5000 m and fourth in the 10,000 m and is hoping for a spot on the podium.

Siosifa Tonga (’13) is also ranked highly, coming in third in the triple jump.

“Good things happened [at the LC Invite] on the men’s side,” Fix said. “We’ll see what we can do at conference since we’ve been competing under the shadow of injury to our sprinters. We’ll see if the clouds can part at conference.”