[Eugene, Oregon] The longest week of the Sasquatch track season turned out to be one of epic proportions. While the main body of the team competed at the Oregon State High Performance meet, including all three of the school’s heptathlete’s. The main event for these student athletes began on Monday May 1 with the first five events of the two-day NWAC Heptathlon Championships.
The heptathlon crew consisted of Miranda Irwin, Saira Schoener and Emma Bryson. A total of seventeen personal bests out of twenty-one events was just the beginning for this group. Each recorded a season and lifetime best total score.
Leading the way for the Sasquatch was Miranda Irwin who finished up as the conference runner-up in second place. Irwin had season and personal bests in all seven events of the heptathlon. She improved over her previous best total score by 776 points, an almost unheard-of amount. In March she scored 3111 at these championships she totaled 3887.
Included in this spectacular run were improvements in the 100m hurdles by almost a second, gaining an additional seven feet in the shot-put, a huge twenty-four-foot improvement in the javelin and dropping thirteen seconds from her 800m time.
Saira Schoener in just her second career heptathlon improved just as amazingly with a new total best score that was 760 points better than her previous score. In March she scored 2327 at these championships she totaled 3087.
She won the javelin portion of this event with a winning throw of 122’3” and had personal best in the high jump of 4’4.75”, threw the shot-put 29’.50”, long jumped a best of 14’10.50” and dropped eleven seconds off her best 800m time. Schoeners efforts earned her a fifth-place finish and combined with Irwin’s second place netted the team twelve highly valuable points toward the conference meet May 22-23 at Mt. Hood.
Competing in her first college heptathlon was Emma Bryson. Bryson also saw good results in reaching new and personal bests in six out of the seven events and recording a total score of 2676. Much like Hunter Beatty, Emma was recovering from a significant injury and her dedication and desire to re-join the team and compete would not be put off. Bryson had her best finishes in the high jump clearing 4’ 3.50” good for fifth place and in the javelin throw with a toss of 77’ also good for fifth place.
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#Women's Track and Field