The first outdoor track and field meet of the season was stellar for the Nighthawks as they competed at the Willamette Invitational in Salem, Oregon. Despite experiencing some adversity before and during the meet, the Nighthawks were resilient. The women's team took first overall and the men's team placed second overall, boding well for the rest of the NNU outdoor track season. The Nighthawks competed against DI, DII, and DIII schools including Oregon State and Western Oregon.
"What a day!" exclaimed head coach Danny Bowman.
"Adversity was the word of the day. The day started off with a broken down bus, so we had amazing parents shuttle our student-athletes to the meet from the hotel. Then, the weather was either sunny, raining, hailing, or cold. Those that competed today did a fantastic job. We are all very pleased with the effort given today by our athletes!"
Standout freshman distance athlete Morgan Erler had a fantastic race in the 5,000 meter. She took snagged the title in the longest race of the meet, crossing the line at 17:53.29 seconds.
"After an eventful bus ride over, the weather for the girls 5,000 meter had near perfect conditions," said Erler.
"It was really nice racing at sea level. I wasn't sure what to expect because I'd never raced those girls before, but I stuck with what I knew and it paid off.
"I really enjoyed getting to race with Olivia, and she ended up doing fantastic!"
"The guys did really good too, even with a random hail storm in the middle of their race. It was fun getting to cheer them on saying, "Hail yeah!! Good job guys!" added Erler.
Junior Laine DeJong surprised herself in the 400m dash today in Salem. She placed third overall with a time of 58.82 seconds.
"With the past two weeks of hard volume and intensity practices, I wasn't fully expecting to run my best 400," said DeJong.
"The rain during the meet didn't scare me too much—since I am a native to the west coast—but it definitely doesn't make for ideal conditions.
"Luckily, the weather cleared up to pretty much perfect for my heat of the 400. I was super excited to cross the line and see 58.8. I didn't hit that mark until outdoor conference last season, so kicking off the season with that time makes me really hopeful to reach my goals in the 400 meter by the season's end.
"For the rest of the season, I want to ride this momentum and remain consistent in my times, chipping off a little bit each weekend!" added DeJong.
To no surprise, senior Destany Herbert performed terrifically in the throwing events, snagging first in the shot put with a toss of 12.98m and placing second in the discus throw with a distance of 38.19m.
"This was my first collegiate meet that was in the rain and hail!" said Herbert.
"I was really happy that I was around a meter off of my PR in both shot and discus. I feel like that means I have a lot of potential to do even better later in the season, which is motivating."
Another standout freshman, Brody Kemble, won the 5,000 meter race with a time of 15:04.74—9th in NNU history.
"Overall, the race went really well. About a mile in, we got hailed on and then it poured rain. That was challenging, but it made the race really interesting," mentioned Kemble.
"I felt really strong throughout the whole race, but I should have picked up the pace earlier. I would have really liked to go sub-15 minutes and I barely missed it.
"However, it makes me excited for the next race. I'm also really proud of my distance teammates: the girls both ran great, and Aaron showed a lot of strength and ran a fantastic time."
The next time the Nighthawks lace up to compete will be on April 7th and 8th at the Aggie Invitational in Logan, Utah.
