Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame
2021 Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Josh Lovell combined his natural talent with a relentless work ethic and is rightfully considered the finest decathlete to have ever enrolled at Linfield.
In 2009, Josh Lovell outdueled his twin brother, Jeremy, for the NCAA Division III decathlon championship. It was a fitting conclusion to a storybook track and field season for Josh and his brother, who were among a seven-person delegation to represent Linfield that year at the NCAA Championships in Marietta, Ohio.
At that championship meet, Josh amassed 7,080 points, capturing the program's first individual NCAA championship since 2001.
Battling a field of 18 competitors in 94-degree weather, Lovell earned top-10 finishes in each of five second-day events. His highest marks came in the the 400-meter race, which he won, in the javelin, where he placed third with a toss of 170 feet-4, and the pole vault, where he recorded a third-place effort of 13-11.
When all was said and done, he had exceeded his previous career-best point total of 7,003. Said Linfield coach Garry Killgore at the time: "We’re just absolutely ecstatic about the way the competition turned out. I'm very proud of Josh for the way he handled the pressure of being the No. 1 guy going into the meet.”
Lovell owns a long list of accomplishments. He earned four varsity letters in track while also participating in football as a freshman
Four times, he was named an NCAA track and field All-American. In addition to his national title, he placed second in the pentathlon in 2010 at the NCAA Indoor Championships and twice was third in the decathlon at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
During his national title-winning year of 2009, Lovell was named the Regional and National Field Event Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. On three occasions, he was appointed the Wildcats’ most outstanding field events competitor, and continues to hold four marks that rank among the top-10 all-time at Linfield, including a school-record 7,125 points in the decathlon.
Lovell was honored as the top male athlete at Linfield in 2009 and 2010 and was presented with an All-Academic Award by the USTFCCA.
As a sophomore in 2007, he helped lead Linfield to the Northwest Conference team championship. Collectively, Lovell claimed four NWC championships, including two in the decathlon.
His brother, Jeremy, noticed a difference in Josh, saying “Toward the end of our careers, Josh became a bit more focused on his training. You could attribute his heightened training to him winning the national championship our junior year. Going those extra steps really helped him out a lot.”
“I learned the importance of committing yourself to a process. That didn’t really happen for me until the summer of my sophomore year. I really dedicated myself to the process and it paid off with a national championship.”
Today, Josh Lovell is a product manager at Applied Physics Technologies in McMinnville, where he has worked for the last 11 years. For the last decade, he has helped coach jumpers on the Linfield track and field team. He is also among the first cohost of students in the Linfield Master’s of Science in Business program.
Josh and his wife, former track and field hurdler Laura Sibley, live in McMinnville.
