SPOKANE – Kirsten Smith hit NAIA national qualifying marks in two events and came close in another as the Lewis-Clark State College track teams enjoyed a successful day at the Dusty Lane Open on Saturday.
Smith, a sophomore from Everett, Wash., reached a school-record 154-11 in the hammer throw to punch her ticket to nationals and to claim second overall against many area schools including Eastern Washington and Washington State.
She also qualified with a 136-07 mark in the discus, an event in which she competed in at nationals last season.
In the shot put, Smith just missed qualifying for nationals, but did claim third overall with her throw of 40-08.75. Teammate Myriah Deeds threw 33-09.50.
Kelsey Klettke was one of two Warrior runners to compete at the event—as many on the squad are away for Spring Break. Klettke ran two races and set school records in both. In the 1500 meter run, she finished first overall with a time of 4:48.04. In the 800, she earned third with a time of 2:19.57. She was about two seconds shy of qualifying for nationals in both events.
The Warrior men had only two athletes compete on Saturday.
Jake Meyer finished seventh overall in the discus and fourth in his group in the hammer. He reached 115-01 in the discus, and 128-10 in the hammer which is a school record.
Alex Anderson finished fourth in his section in the 1500 with a time of 4:16.04 and sixth in the 800 with a mark of 2:01.82.
LCSC will compete next at the Whitworth Sam Adams Invite in Spokane on April 3.
