Results

SALEM, Ore. — Ryan Stracke headlined day one of the 2023 Northwest Conference Championships on Friday, winning the 10,000-meters as the Pacific Lutheran University men's track & field squad sits second overall in the team standings.
 
"I'm really happy with how the team performed today and I thought the energy the team brought was exactly what we needed," said Head Coach Trey Henderson.
 
"Ryan and Owen set the tone in the 10K. We were solid in the field events throughout the day between our pole vault crew and our throwers and there were so many great individual performances beyond our top three finishers."
 
Stracke got the meet started with a bang on the track, winning the NWC title in the 10,000-meters. The senior made 25 laps around the oval in 30 minutes, 40.61 seconds, winning the event by a comfortable five second margin. It's Stracke's third league title of his career after winning the NWC title in cross country in both 2022 and 2021. Owen Ladinig added six more points to the team tally after placing third in the same event, crossing the tape in 31:09.30.
 
Larson Fairbairn was third in the hammer throw, unleashing a toss of 162 feet, nine inches while Masum Real was one spot back in fourth with a toss of 162' 6". Fairbairn additionally placed third in the discus with a toss of 150' 2" with Wyatt Tayon finishing fifth (143' 10") and George Sonko placing seventh (138' 2"). 
 
Kai Sorensen was fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, stopping the clock in a personal record time of 9:35.55 with Stefans Lusis crossing the tape in eighth with an effort of 9:47.03. 
 
Grady Lemma was fourth in the pole vault, clearing 13' 10" before punching his ticket to the finals in the 110-meter hurdles, clocking a time of 15.79 to place fourth in the preliminaries. Lemma's day was finished however, also qualifying for the finals of the 400-meter hurdles, owning the fifth best qualifying time in the event (58.28).
 
Dylan Jones tied for seventh in the pole vault, clearing 12' 4 ½" while Seth Kramer was eighth in the long jump with a leap of 21' 5 ½".
 
Koala Sanchez and Kellen Meade sprinted into the finals of the 100-meter dash. Sanchez won his heat and heads into Saturday with the second fastest time at 11.12 while Meade was a hundredth of a second back with the fourth best time (11.13). Meade additionally qualified in the 200-meter dash, winning his heat and owning the fourth best qualifying time in 22.48. 
 
"I'm excited to see us build on that tomorrow and finish the weekend strong representing the Lutes!"
 
PLU sits second overall in the team standings after day one, trailing reigning league champion George Fox University. 
 
The Lutes close out the 2023 Championships tomorrow with field events beginning at 10:30 a.m. and running events getting underway at noon.