BELLINGHAM – Northwest had a strong outing at Western Washington's Ralph Vernacchia Invitational on Saturday, including a national qualifying mark, two event wins, and 13 top 10 finishes.
 
Ellie Calquhoun qualified with a B standard in the 3000-meter steeplechase, finishing third at 11:21.47 with teammate Olivia Sine in fifth at 13:22.16.
 
In the field events, Stottlemyre placed fourth in the javelin at 38.58, and Franco took eighth in the shot put at 8.89 meters.
 
"Great day at Civic Stadium for our team," said NU Head Coach Mark Mandi. "Our men and women competed extremely well and were very supportive of one another. There were so many highlights throughout the day that it's hard to list them all. A couple of big ones were Ellie hitting the "B" standard for nationals in the 3k steeplechase in only her second time racing it and Gretchen narrowly missing the "B" standard in the javelin. Like the rest of our team, those two put in a tremendous amount of work into their craft and it's really nice to see how much that work is paying off."
 
Anna Swedin got the day started on the right foot with a win in the 10,000 meters at 40:16.67. Craig Lambert led the men's effort, taking third place in the 10,000 meters at 32:58.63. Both Swedin and Lambert hit the qualifying standard in the event.
 
"We had a couple of CCC qualifiers in the 10k: Anna and Craig," said Mandi. "For both of them, it was their first CCC qualifiers for outdoor track and for Anna it was the first time she had ever raced that distance."
 
The Eagles also finished well, going 1-2 in the 4x400 relay. Elizabeth Behnke, Calquhoun, Anya Bohuta, and Grace Gerardi won in 4:37.27. Gretchen Stottlemyre, Maddie Deyl, Emily Deyl, and Felicia Franco took second at 4:48.09.
 
Behnke was second in the 200 at 27.19, and Gerardi finished second in the 800 at 2:26.77.
 
Samantha Goedde was third in the 5000 meters at 19:04.60.
 
"Grace almost matched a lifetime best in the 800m, thinking it was her last time running that event," Mandi said. "She ran so well, though, we are planning to now enter her in the 800m at CCC's and see if she can run even better. A big highlight for our team that may have gone unnoticed if you just looked at the results was seeing Emily and Maddie Deyl compete for the first time in a NU uniform. They have persevered through many different setbacks and to have senior Emily pass the baton off to her junior sister Maddie was amazing to watch."
Also for the NU women, Bohuta was 12th in the 400 hurdles at 1:14.80, and Franco placed 11th in the discus at 23.88 meters and 19th in the hammer at 22.67.
 
Kacey Koehn led the field events with a fourth-place showing in the javelin at 51.19.
 
Corban Phillips placed ninth in the 400 hurdles at 1:00.32, and Scott Baisden took 12th at 1:10.22.
 
Jack Kopatich finished sixth in the 800 meters at 2:00.43 with Noah Phillips in 10th at 2:04.88. Micah Murphy placed 10th in the mile at 4:19.43.
 
"Jack had another big PR in the 800m," said Mandi. "It's hard to believe that he started 2022 running 2:16 and now he's down to 2:00. It's been an incredible progression for him. As we wind down, I'm excited about the direction we are headed. I still believe that the best is yet to come and we're looking forward to giving it our best shot in the next couple of weeks."
 
NU returns to action on May 7 at the Portland Twilight Meet.