Saturday, May 11, 2019

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Behind a pair of championships in the hurdles by junior Cordell Cummings, Western Washington won its first team championship in four years at the GNAC Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships, presented by Under Armour, which concluded Saturday at Western Oregon University’s McArthur Field.

Cummings became a two-time champion in both hurdles disciplines, setting a meet record in the process. He opened his day by repeating as the 110-meter hurdles champion with a time of 14.91 seconds. Cummings returned to win the 400-meter hurdles by over a second, running a time of 51.77 seconds that surpassed the meet record of 52.12 seconds set by Simon Fraser’s Vladislav Tsygankov last year.

Cummings ended the day as part of the Vikings’ winning 4x400-meter relay team, which won in a time of 3:15.54. The trio of winning performances earned Cummings selection as the Men’s Track Athlete of the Meet.

Western Washington ran away with the team title, its first since 2015, with a score of 173 points. Central Washington placed second with 122 points while Concordia was third with 116 points.

Northwest Nazarene senior Jake Knight was named the Men’s Field Athlete of the Meet for his two victories on Friday. He won the shot put with a mark of 59 feet, 1.25 inches, and the discus with a meet-record mark of 182 feet, 10 inches.

Concordia freshman Dalton Rasmussen earned the Men’s Performance of the Meet thanks to his winning mark in the javelin of 220 feet, 3 inches. He became just the eighth athlete in GNAC history to surpass 220 feet in the event and pulled into a tie for sixth in Division II this season, almost assuredly gaining him entry into the NCAA Division II Championships.

Montana State Billings’ senior Sam Zook joined Cummings as a two-time champion, winning the 100 meters in a time of 11.01 seconds. Zook also ran the second leg of the Yellowjackets’ winning 4x100-meter relay team, which pulled away in a school-record time of 41.28 seconds.

Central Washington senior Zach Whittaker and Wildcats’ sophomore Braydon Maier also repeated as champions. Whittaker won on his final attempt in a competition that saw the top-four finishers one-up each other in the finals with a mark of 48 feet, 11 inches. Maier, meanwhile, repeated as the pole vault champion with his clearance of 15 feet, 10 inches.

The Wildcats also received a championship from sophomore Aidan Cain, who won the hammer with a throw of 189 feet, 7 inches.

Simon Fraser received a pair of victories in the distances from junior Carlos Vargas in the 1,500 meters and junior Sean Miller in the 5,000 meters. Vargas pulled ahead over the final 200 meters of the race to win the 1,500 in a time of 3:54.18. Miller, meanwhile, outdueled Alaska Anchorage senior Edwin Kangogo most of the race before emerging with the winning time of 14:46.49.

Sophomore Adam Brown gave Concordia its second consecutive championship in the 200 meters with a winning time of 22.07 seconds while Northwest Nazarene junior Logan Blake won the 400 meters in 47.88 seconds.

Seattle Pacific senior Jesse Phan surged over the final lap to give Seattle Pacific its first men’s champion since 2016 and its first in the running events since 2013, taking the 800 meters in a time of 1:53.99.