ASHLAND, Ore. – In Track & Field, you always want to peak at the right time and for most of the Bushnell women's track & field team that was exactly what happened at the Cascade Conference Championships presented by U.S. Bank. Among the highlights were an All-CCC finish, a school record and some surprise scoring. 

Director of Track Tom Boldon said, "Our coaching staff is so proud of how hard our kids competed. We were so impressed with our women's team score."

Based on their conference rankings coming into the event, freshman Faith Palmer and senior Mikayla Rodriguez (pictured, above) were not expected to provide points for the team in the high jump on Saturday, posting matching season-best marks of 1.51 meters, the duo tied for fifth place, adding six points to the team total of 29, which was good for seventh place. "Faith and Mikayla were clearing heights on first attempts, pushing each other to collegiate bests. It was great to see them have such a great day, especially Mikayla in her last meet in a Beacon uniform after five years with the team!"

Junior Jenae Usselman (33.64m) and sophomore Dakota Underwood (32.35m) posted personal bests in the discus while Freshman Maddii Desemone set a new personal best in the 100m on Saturday, running a 12.81 to cap off a strong debut season with the Beacons. 

Saturday's other season-bests included  Sierra Janikowski (1:10.54) and Sarah Phillips (1:10.73) in the 400m Hurdles, and 4x400 relay team of Mayah Pappas, Aneykah McCall, Olivia Bailon, and Adrienne Mai who finished seventh at 4:10.68. 

On Friday, junior Rebecca Kuskie, already an All-CCC finisher in cross country this year, added the 10,000m run to her list of accolades with a third-place finish. She is the tenth in a long line of Beacon distance runners to earn All-Conference at in the 10k.
 
Earlier in the day, senior Carina Haas added another four centimeters to her own Bushnell Pole Vault record, clearing 3.25m on her third attempt. She ended up taking fourth place to score five points for the Beacons.
 
Day one highlights also included personal bests for Pappas in the Long Jump (5.41m), Janikowski in the 100m Hurdles (16.56), and Mathis in the Shot Put (11.71m).

Boldon highlighted Janikowski's weekend, saying "Sierra may not have scored any points, but she brought her 'A' game and put a stamp on her well deserved Most Improved Award from the team's award ceremony last week. She was able to bring down both of her hurdle race times again, which was so impressive."

Boldon also closed the year with an eye on a promising future, saying, "We have a young team and are only losing a few seniors. With the talent coming in next year and all of the returners, we look to be much stronger at conference next year."