SeattleU's Nicole Whittern wins WAC javelin title; Porterfield 5th at Big Sky decathlon; Pac-12 preview...

In Edinburg, Texas, Seattle University javelin thrower Nicole Whittern (photo courtesy Seattle University Athletics) took the lead and made it stick over the course of the competition, as the redshirt sophomore from Everson, Washington won the Western Athletic Conference title in the event to highlight the first day of competition for the Redhawks Thursday.

Whittern, who finished third in 2019, opened the competition with a personal best of 139-1 (42.40m), then topped it with her winning throw of 139-10 (42.63m) in the fifth round.

Thursday's competition consisted of finals in the men's and women's hammer, men's and women's javelin, the men's and women's 10000, and the men's pole vault,

The women's javelin was the only event the Redhawks scored points in on Thursday.

Day 1 results are available here.

In Ogden, Utah, senior Quintin Porterfield led a 5-7-8 finish in the decathlon for the Eastern Washington University track and field team as the multi events competitions wrapped up Thursday at the Big Sky Conference Track and Field Championships.

Porterfield had a fast start to the final day, but fell from second to fifth in the final standings. After scoring 3,694 in the first five events on Wednesday, he scored 2,448 on the final day and finished with a personal best 6,142 points – a single point out of fourth place.

Junior Parker Wubbena came on strong to finish with a personal best of 5,761 points and claim seventh, with freshman Chris Homen right behind in eighth with a career-high 5,755 points. 

"Quintin had a great decathlon with the exception of two events -- discus and pole vault," said Eastern assistant and multi-events coach Dave Nielsen. "He went from a solid second to a point where it looked as if he would struggle just to score."

The link to results from the Big Sky Conference championships are available here.

PAC 12 CHAMPIONSHIPS BEGIN FRIDAY IN LOS ANGELES...

After a one-year absence, the Pac-12 track and field championships begin Friday at Loker Stadium on the campus of the University of Southern California.

Portions of the championships will be televised or live streamed by the Pac-12 Networks, however only finals on the track will be covered, and only those finals occurring on Sunday, which excludes the 10,000-meters and the steeplechase.

Unlike previous years, the meet is now a three-day competition, with the multi events incorporated into the main portion of the meet, as opposed to the multis contested as a stand-alone event the weekend before.

Friday will feature the start of the decathlon and heptathlon, several track prelims, the 10,000-meter finals, and field event finals in the men's and women's hammer throw and javelin.

Saturday, the multis will wrap up, field event finals will include both long jumps, the men's high jump and women's pole vault, and both shot puts, plus 3,000-meter steeplechase finals and another round of running preliminaries.

Sunday then begins at 3 p.m. live on Pac-12 Networks and will feature all track event finals aside from the 10k and steeplechase, plus both discus competitions, both triple jumps, the men's pole vault and the women's high jump.

Returning champions from the 2019 meet held in Tucson include Hannah Rusnak of the Huskies in the heptathlon, and Washington's Elijah Mason in the discus.

Going into the conference championships, Washington State's Paul Ryan (1500), Washington's Haley Herberg (5000), Tibebu Proctor of UW (10000), Sam Brixey of WSU (110 hurdles), Cass Elliott of UW (400 hurdles), Colton Johnsen of WSU (steeplechase), Katie Rainsberger of UW (steeplechase), Charisma Taylor of WSU (triple jump), Elijah Mason of UW & John Kolb (discus), Makayla Kelby of Washington (discus), Dalton Sugg of UW (javelin), Ida Eiking of UW (javelin), Hannah Rusnak (heptathlon) and Parker Kennedy (decathlon) of the Huskies are in the top 3 in the Pac-12 in their events.

Washington's release is available here, while Washington State's release is available here.

The link to live results is available here.

NOTE: The Western Athletic Conference, the Big Sky Conference, the Pac-12 Conference and the sports information offices of Washington, Washington State, Eastern Washington and Seattle University contributed to this report.

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