The mad dash for home

Track & Field prepares for their home invitational

By Peter Melling /// Sports Editor

On April 18, the men’s and women’s track & field team will host the Lewis & Clark Invitational, their second home event of the season. This is the last regular season event on the Pioneers’ schedule, and the last chance for individual athletes to earn a spot in the Northwest Conference Championship meet. How will the Pios prepare for this meet, and how many more athletes can they take to the NWC Championship?

Competition will prove to be fierce at the LC Invite. Not only will the Pios will face three of the toughest NWC schools (George Fox University, Linfield College and Pacific University), but each athlete will be gunning for one of the limited number of championship berths, if they did not clinch one amidst the inclement weather at the Pacific Luau last week. Linfield’s players present the greatest challenge, as their men’s and women’s teams are ranked #43 and #68 respectively. George Fox also aims for more representation in the championship, with the ranked #9 women’s team and #64 men’s team.

In spite of the competition’s strength, the Pios have high hopes for their championship push. Teresa Stackhouse (’16) and Ali Brauer (’15) already qualified for the championship at the Pacific Luau, and more Pios hope to join them. Returning to Griswold Stadium for the first time since the LC Spring Break Invite on March 20-21, the men’s and women’s track team hopes to take advantage of their home turf to earn more berths for the NWC Championship at George Fox University’s Stoffer Family Stadium in Newberg, Oregon from April 24-25. The LC Invitational starts at 11 a.m. at Griswold Stadium, while the throwers start at 9 a.m. at Concordia University.