By Pat Perkins

Observer Staff Writer

April Haney made her final home track and field meet at Eastern Oregon University one of her best.

The senior won three events at Saturdays Eastern Oregon Invitational, setting a personal best in the hammer throw and making her second-longest throw in the discus.

Haney came within five inches of the NAIA national meet automatic qualifying mark in the discus, winning at 137 feet, 7 inches.

She also won the hammer in 170-1, her best ever and the third-best in school history. Her winning shot put of 43-7 wasnt among her top five but still beat out second place by more than 5 feet.

That was a huge triple, maybe one of the best triples Ive seen her do, Eastern Oregon coach John Spatz said.

Haney holds the school shot put record and won a national title earlier this year in the indoor 20-pound weight throw. In four years at Eastern, she has won 12 All-American honors.

Her teammate, Leah Merrell, is the schools hammer throw record holder, but she finished second to Haney in that event at 166-6. Merrell won the NCAA Division III national title last year.

The three-school meet Saturday featured Northwest Nazarene and Lewis-Clark State, with a few unattached athletes mixed in.

The closest the Mountaineers got to adding qualifiers for this years national meets came in the 4×800-meter relays. The womens team won in 9 minutes, 50.39 seconds, just four-tenths of a second above the qualifier.

The men won in 7:56.25, four seconds above the qualifier.

Spatz believes the women will catch the 9:50 qualifier by the Cascade Collegiate Conference meet, May 5 in Klamath Falls.

That was definitely a good performance by them, Spatz said. Those girls will definitely run faster at conference. Its the first race on the track and theyll be pumped to go.

Another factor in the Mountaineers favor is the 4,200-foot altitude at Klamath Falls. The NCAA offers an altitude adjustment on distance races.

Senior Ben Gall ran his second-fastest 1,500, winning in 4:06.98, but he collapsed after the race and needed help getting up and walking around.

Thats one of the hardest-working guys I know, Spatz said. He felt great through about 1,300 (meters), then a couple major appliances and a few large animal groups jumped on his back.

Gall started out with a 61-second split on his first 400 meters, a fast sprint for a runner who will run either the 5,000 or 10,000 at nationals.

A 61 quarter will take it out of the best of them, Spatz said. He ran pretty even the rest of the way. He wasnt short because he didnt give enough effort.

Another strong effort was made by freshmen high jumpers Matt Young, Derek Howard and Jake Cahill. Young won at 6-5, with Howard second at 6-4 and Cahill finishing at 6-0.

Young was below his personal-best of 6-7, but Howard, who joined the team a couple of weeks ago, had never gone past 6-2 in high school competition.

Jake, he crushed 6-foot, but he kind of lost a little bit of focus, lost the groove he was jumping in, Spatz said.

Easterns Matt Wandschneider won the 200 in 23.55 and had a photo finish with teammate in the 100, with both crossing the finish line in 11.51.

Easterns last meets before conference come this weekend. A few of the distance runners will compete Friday and Saturday at the University of Oregon in Eugene, while the rest of the team will compete at Western Oregons meet in Monmouth.

Eastern Oregon Invitational

Saturday, at La Grande

Eastern Oregon and local results

Teams participating Eastern Oregon, Northwest Nazarene, Lewis-Clark State.

Women

400 2, Danielle Spiekermeier, 1:03.21.

1,500 2, Kelsi Jones, 5:17.90; 3, Jill Heinz, 5:20.60; 4, Katlin Lafferty, 5:20.93.

3,000 3, Lindsey Ulrich, 11:36.53.

400 intermediate hurdles 1, Julie Lia Braaten, 1:14.87; 2, Carri Jones, 1:16.96; 3, Suzy Campbell, 1:18.24.

3,200 relay 1, Eastern Oregon, 9:50.39; 3, Eastern Oregon B, 10:28.84.

Pole vault 3, Summer Steele, 7-0.

Shot put 1, April Haney, 43-7 1/4; 3, Leah Merrell, 35-8 3/4; 5, Kara Blagg, 30-11 1/4.

Discus 1, Haney, 137-7; 6, Blagg, 106-11; 7, Merrell, 99-9.

Hammer 1, Haney, 170-1; 2, Merrell, 166-6; 6, Blagg, 111-6.

Javelin 2, Campbell, 103-4; 3, Melissa Barclay, 97-10.

Men

100 1 (tie), Ben Baker and Matt Wandschneider, 11.51; 4, Cameron Christiansen, 11.74; 6, Rob Naeloe, 11.82; 8, Blas Elguezabal, 13.96.

200 1, Wandschneider, 23.55; 2, Christiansen, 23.93; 5, Naeloe, 24.77.

400 2, Alex McKenzie, 53.00; 4, Elguezabal, 59.76.

1,500 1, Ben Gall, 4:06.98; 2, Alex McGladrey, 4:17.17; 3, Mike Anderson, 4:17.74; 5, Eric Griffiths, 4:25.06; 6, Dallas Kinch, 4:25.91.

110 high hurdles 2, Jeff Grant, 17.23.

400 intermediate hurdles 2, Ian Schroeder, 1:00.92; 4, Grant, 1:02.77.

400 relay 1, Eastern Oregon, 44.28; 3, Eastern Oregon B, 47.78.

1,600 relay 1, Eastern Oregon, 3:31.29; 3, Eastern Oregon B, 3:35.61.

3,200 relay 1, Eastern Oregon, 7:56.25; 3, Eastern Oregon B, 8:14.17.

High jump 1, Matt Young, 6-5; 2, Derek Howard, 6-4; 3, Jake Cahill, 6-0.

Pole vault 3, Jason Follett, 13-0; 4, Paul Lapke, 12-6.

Triple jump 2, Cahill, 40-0 1/2; 3, Nick Rickard, 38-6 1/4; 4, Brian Hartley, 38-0 3/4.

Shot put 2, Ryan Frost, 38-2 1/4; 3, Hartley, 34-10 1/4.

Discus 1, Hartley, 112-4; 2, Rick Thew, 109-1; 3, Frost, 106-3; 4, Young, 95-11.

Hammer 1, Kyle Daly, 196-4; 2, Joel Edmonds, 138-9; 4, Thew, 81-11; 5, Hartley, 69-0; 6, Lapke, 55-11.