Women's Track & Field Season Preview/Review
2008-09 Season Review
The Community Colleges of Spokane women’s track and field team continued to rewrite the NWAACC record book with their sixth consecutive team championship. Lane and Mt. Hood Community Colleges kept the heat on the Sasquatch women during Day 1, but there was too much to overcome in the second day as they pulled away with a 45-point victory over second place Lane CC. Mt. Hood CC finished a distant third.
The track events and sophomore Ashley Hutchinson were the big attention getters at this season’s final meet, hosted at Spokane Falls Community College. Hutchinson won all three events in which she was entered: Shot Put, Discus and Hammer. Her Hammer Throw was also a new CCS record at 169’08”. She won the Discus by just more than a foot and had a three foot season improvement and personal record throw in the Shot Put. Sophomore teammate Chelsea Wordell scored in all three throws as well, and earned All-American status with her second place in Hammer. In fact, all four Sasquatch Hammer Throwers made the finals where they finished first, second, fifth, and eighth. Vanessa Harris came to the forefront literally as she pulled away from the crowd in the 100m sprint as NWAACC leader and teammate Lateashea Currie fell with an injury just meters from the line. It was Harris’ second All-American award of the day after helping the 4 x 100m Relay team of Currie, sophomore Taylor Cook and freshman Myisha Valentine run the second fastest time in school history, just 0.01 behind last year’s school record. Harris would earn two more All-American awards with her second place showing in the 200m later in Day 2, and her leg on the winning 4 x 400m Relay with freshman Chelsea Lawhead, Valentine, and Cook. Cook was also a four-event All-American with those two relay awards, her third place in the 200m, and her runner-up trophy in Heptathlon. Valentine finished second in the open 400m race, only missing the top spot on the podium by four hundredths. Sophomore Brittnee Sanchez had NWAACC-leading times in the 1500m and 5000m, coming away with a second place trophy in a very tightly contested 1500m. Sanchez had an easier time in the 5000m, winning that event by over ten meters. Freshman Armarose Bailey entered the 5000m with the sixth fastest time, but ran a very gutsy race and earned her All-American award with a third place finish. In the 3000m Steeplechase last year’s champion and 2009 leader Karen Owens became the first NWAACC woman to win the event twice. Finally, Sasha Reuben had been battling for the top spot as the NWAACC High Jump leader all season, but on the day that counted she jumped a season best and won the event on misses. Ashley Hutchinson was awarded the Field Athlete of the Meet trophy and Head Coach Larry Beatty was named Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year.
2009 NWAACC Track and Field Champions
- 23-1 In scoring meets
- (Beat 1 D-I College, 2 D-II Colleges, 3 D-III Colleges, 4 NAIA Colleges)
- 22 All-Americans
- 15 Conference Champions
- 49 All-Conference Selections
- 30 athletes in the All-Time Top Twenty List
- Sixth title in a row and 16th overall
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Team Scores NWAACC Championships
|
| Spokane |
224 |
| Lane |
179 |
| Mt. Hood |
131.50 |
| Clackamas |
84.50 |
| Clark |
82 |
| SWOCC |
48 |
| Treasure Valley |
35 |
| Everett |
24 |
| Highline |
0 |