LA GRANDE, Ore. –
Owen Lien won the 600-meter event and
Tucker Piper narrowly missed a national qualifying mark, as the Oregon Tech men's track team closed out the indoor regular-season at the Eastern Oregon Last Chance Meet.
Lien topped a quality field with a time of 1:25.39, with the short-track conversion time of 1:23.41 just two seconds off the national provisional mark.
Piper was even closer, as his converted time of 2:31.79 in the 1,000-meters was one second away from earning a spot at Nationals.
In the 3,000-meters,
Jonas Hartline placed third (8:53.60) and
Tychon Preston placed fifth (9:09.97) in the 3,000-meters;
Michael Sanchez recorded time of 7.55 seconds in the 60-meters and 25.23 seconds in the 200-meters; with
Tate Wyman posting times of 9.61 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and 24.96 seconds in the 200-meters.
In the field events,
Eli Stevens shared the individual title in the pole vault (4.40 meters / 14 feet, 5 ¼ inches) and threw the shot put 10.58 meters (34 feet, 8 ½ inches), with
Tristen Valadez recording marks of 9.71 meters (31 feet, 10 ½ inches in the weight throw and 9.34 meters (31 feet, 3 ¾ inches) in the shot put.
Bud Patzke closed out his first heptathlon with 3,711 points – recording a mark of 3.50 meters (11 feet, 5 ¾ inches) in the pole vault and times of 9.47 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles and 3:32.11 in the 1,000-meters.
Stevens is on the bubble for the NAIA Championships in the heptathlon, sitting in 15th-place with one day of competition remaining nationally – with the Top-16 marks earning spots at the upcoming meet in Brookings, S.D.
