Linfield College senior Josh Lovell finished second in the men’s pentathlon at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships for track and field Friday at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind.
Lovell, a Columbia River High School graduate and the defending NCAA-III outdoor champion in the decathlon, scored 3,664 points in pentathlon’s five events. Todd Wildman of Trinity University (Texas) earned the national title with 3,751 points.
Lovell — whose season best in the pentathlon was 3,725 points — also was honored as NCAA-III West Region men’s field athlete of the year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches.
The USTFCCC awards were presented Thursday at DePauw.
Lovell tied for second place in the long jump Friday with a mark of 22 feet, 4½ inches, and was fourth in the high jump at 6-5. He was fifth in the 55-meter hurdles in 8.17 seconds.
Entering the pentathlon’s final event, the 1,000-meter run, only 12 points separated Lovell from challengers Ethan Miller of Central College (Iowa) and Obinna Nwanna from Case Western Reserve University (Ohio).
Lovell ran 2:54.08 to take sixth place in the event and second place for the competition. Miller was third overall, just 62 points behind, while Nwanna dropped back to fifth place in the point standings.
“We’re really proud of Josh and what he was able to accomplish in his first indoor pentanthlon,” Linfield coach Dr. Garry Killgore told the school’s Web site. “He came into the meet ranked in the top three. To not only finish that high, but move up a slot into second place, really says a lot about him.”
Lovell also had a provisional qualifying mark in the long jump during the indoor season.
SPU’s Pike helps relay win D-II title
Skyview High graduate Jennifer Pike ran the second leg of Seattle Pacific University’s NCAA Division II indoor track and field national championship distance medley relay.
Pike overcame being jostled down the stretch of her leg Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M., stumbling and nearly falling. She joined Jane Larson, Lisa Anderberg and Jessica Pixler for a winning time of 11 minutes, 29.88 seconds.
Visit http://spufalcons.com/news/2010/3/15/10_witf_March14.aspx for a detailed account of the race.
More All-America honors for Porter
Western Washington distance runner Sarah Porter earned two more All-America honors at the NCAA Division II indoor championships.
The Hockinson High School graduate placed fourth in the 5,000 meters Saturday, a day after joining Courtney Olsen, Megan O’Connell and Rachael Johnson to finish seventh in the distance medley relay.
Porter’s time in the 5,000 was 17 minutes, 26.05 seconds. She was barely six seconds behind Neely Spence of Shippensburg University (Pa.), who won in 17:19.98.
With Porter running the anchor leg, the WWU quartet finished the relay in 12:02.32.
Bounds receives NCAA wrestling bid
Michigan State 165-pounder Kyle Bounds, a graduate of Columbia River High School, received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I wrestling championships. Bounds, who began his collegiate career at Oregon before UO dropped its wrestling program, reached his first NCAAs as a senior.
The NCAA championships begin today in Omaha, Neb.
Bounds placed eighth at the Big Ten championships as the Spartans finished seventh. He is 25-18 this season, and has not been pinned.
MWC twice honors BYU’s Foreman
Brigham Young University junior guard Jazmine Foreman was named to the Mountain West Conference All-Defensive team. The Hudson’s Bay High graduate was also named Honorable Mention All-MWC.
The Cougars (20-9, 11-5 and second place in the MWC regular season) lost 77-47 to San Diego State in the conference tournament semifinals.
BYU will face Pepperdine (20-11) today in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
Johnson’s blocks record ends at 133
Columbia River High School graduate Nicole Johnson completed her Utah State career with a school record of 133 blocked shots.
The Aggies finished 13-17 with an 82-65 loss to Louisiana Tech in the Western Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals in Reno, Nev.
Utah State was 5-11 in WAC play during the regular season, which ended with a 53-51 win over Hawai’i in Johnson’s final home game.
A defensive specialist, the center/forward averaged 3.9 rebounds and 3.5 points a game as a center, starting 24 of 30 games.
Title run ends for Gordon, Bruins
The Defending NCAA Division III national champion George Fox University women’s basketball team had its repeat hopes dashed with a 59-52 loss Saturday at Washington University of St. Louis in a NCAA-III sectional final.
Sophomore Keisha Gordon, a Heritage High School graduate, had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Bruins, who had a 24-game winning streak snapped finished 28-3.
Gordon led the Bruins at 13.9 points and 2.5 steals a game for the season, and added 6.3 rebounds. Her 3-point shooting percentage of .351 (61 of 174) led all Bruins with more than 42 attempts.
McAllister, Vikings finish with OT loss
Harold McAllister completed his Western Washington basketball career Saturday as the Vikings dropped a 76-75 overtime heartbreaker to Cal Poly Pomona in the NCAA Division II West Regional semifinals in Bellingham.
The Mountain View High School graduate averaged 6.5 points in 21.4 minutes a game for WWU (26-6).
Prairie’s Porter powers Regis
Prairie High School graduate Chelsea Porter averaged 11.5 points and 4.4 rebounds as a junior forward at Regis University of Denver, third on the team in each category.
She started 23 of 27 games and was second on the team at 28.0 minutes played a game. Her free throw percentage of .723 (60 of 83) led the team for those with 30-plus attempts.
The Rangers finished 10-17, 3-16 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
GNAC honors CWU pitcher Hadenfeld
Central Washington junior Lauren Hadenfeld was named Great Northwest Athletic Conference softball pitcher of the week for March 1-7 after recording three wins with an earned run average of 0.41 as the Wildcats took over first place in the conference winning three of four games against Saint Martin’s.
The Evergreen High graduate allowed just one run and 13 hits in 17 innings. She walked three and struck out 23.
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