Athlete 1996 - 1999
By the time Marci (Warnecke) Cammann graduated in 1999, she represented Linfield at the national championship track & field meet every year of her career, easily setting herself apart as one of the greatest standouts in Wildcat history.
In addition to her national meet appearances at both the NAIA and NCAA levels, she was a three-time All-American, claimed three-time Northwest Conference championships and still appears on Linfield’s Top 10 list in seven different events, including two school records.
Cammann was one of those multi-talented stars, competing in events ranging from the 100-meter dash to the one that claims its Olympic victor, at least on the men’s side, as the “world’s greatest athlete.”
The heptathlon, featuring the 100 hurdles, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin and 800 meters, was the source of the capstone achievement of Cammann’s career. As a senior, she placed seventh in the event at the 1999 NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships, setting the Linfield record in the process. Totaling 4,550 points, she broke a 10-year record by 146 points. The next closet mark on Linfield’s Top 10 list, achieved in 2003, remains 122 points behind her high standard.
A four-year letterwinner, Cammann began her collegiate career as a member of Linfield’s Northwest Conference championship squad in 1996. She contributed three top-eight finishes to the Wildcats’ point total, including a runner-up performance in the long jump. The next season, she won the first of back-to-back individual titles in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 11 inches.
Cammann’s junior season in 1998 was arguably her best. In defending her conference long jump title, she set the school record, bettering a 19-year mark by a full three inches (18-8.75). She also qualified for both the indoor and outdoor track championships, achieving All-America status in the indoor pentathlon (60-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800 meters) and the outdoor long jump. At the conclusion of the spring season, Cammann was honored as Linfield’s Female Athlete of the Year.
Competing at her final NWC Championship meet as a senior, Cammann recorded four top-two finishes, including an individual title in the triple jump. She made one final trip to the national championships, finishing among the top eight competitors in the triple jump.
In addition to her school records in the heptathlon and the long jump, Cammann remains among Linfield’s Top 10 in the 100-meter dash, 400 hurdles, 4x400 relay, triple jump and high jump.
With Cammann on the team, Linfield never finished worse than second at the NWC Championships; the Wildcats followed up their 1996 title with three consecutive runner-up finishes. The squad also took 14th at the 1996 NAIA Championships.
Cammann, who was a two-time Academic All-American and a USTFCCCA academic all-star, graduated from Linfield with a degree in psychology before earning a master’s degree from Portland State University in school counseling. She put that additional education to use first as a counselor at Jesuit High School, and now as the manager of counseling services for Oregon Connections Academy, a K-12 online school.
Cammann coached at Jesuit High School for 12 years, eight while serving as a school counselor plus an additional four, before leaving scholastic athletics to focus on her family. She and her husband, Jason, live in Beaverton, where they are raising two sons: four-year-old Robby and Jack.
