NEWBERG, Ore. – Linfield's Kira Hawaaboo broke her own school record by 211 points while successfully repeating as heptathlon champion Tuesday at the Northwest Conference Multi-Event Championships at Stoffer Family Stadium.
 
Hawaaboo finished the two-day, seven-event competition with career-best 4,840 points, outpacing 10 challengers. The championship event was hosted by George Fox University.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of the way Kira competed the last few days," Wildcats coach Travis Olson said afterward. "She continues to improve, which is a testament to the work she puts in."
 
Hawaaboo began the second day of competition trailing George Fox's Jenna Huntsman by five points but easily surpassed her conference rival on Day 2, winning both the long jump (18 feet, 0 inches) and the javelin (personal best 124-1). She also placed fourth in the 800-meter run in 2:34.59.
 
"Kira knows how to get in the right frame of mind to compete at a high level when it counts. That's something you just can't teach and probably the biggest reason she's so successful. I'm expecting even bigger things from her for the rest of the season."
 
Huntsman finished second overall with 4,669 points followed by Emily Brown of Whitworth with 4,495 points.
 
The junior from Enumclaw, Washington, positioned herself nicely for an automatic invitation to compete in the heptathlon at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Championships, May 23-26, in Geneva, Ohio. Her school-record 4,840 points ranked third among Division III heptathletes this spring. Hawaaboo is also likely to be a leading contender in the women's long jump, where she currently ranks eighth nationally.
 
On the men's side, Linfield's Durham Huson scored 5,375 points over the two days in the 10-event decathlon to place seventh among 11 entrants. The sophomore from Hillsboro, Oregon, achieved new personal records in four events, including two new bests on Day 2 in the pole vault (9-6¼) and the shot put (30-0¼). He came tantalizing close to surpassing his previous all-time best point total of 5,404.

"I was very happy and proud with Durham's performance these past two days as he was able to secure some points for our team and competed very well," said Olson. "He had four PRs over the course of the decathlon and showed great improvements, which will set him up well for future competitions." 
 
AHEAD
Huson and Hawaaboo are back in action at the Larry Byerly Invitational, hosted by Lewis & Clark College. Action starts Friday with the hammer and javelin events at Pacific University at 1:30 p.m. The remainder of the meet gets going Saturday at 9 a.m. at L&C's Griswold Stadium.