Wednesday, March 25, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. –  Western Washington sprinter Alex Donigian and javelin throw Katie Reichert will compete in the 88th annual Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays Friday in Austin.

Just over 7,000 athletes including high school, collegiate and professionals are competing. 

Both athletes have been national runner-ups in NCAA meets.  Reichert finished second in the javelin last May to teammate Bethany Drake in the NCAA Division II Outdoor meet.  She has an NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 159-2 this spring.

Last June, Reichert placed 13th at the United States Track & Field Championships in Sacramento, Calif.

Donigian finished second by .001 seconds in the 60 meters NCAA Indoor earlier this month in a GNAC record time of 6.72.

While Reichert and Donigian are in Texas, other GNAC athletes will be competing in Gresham, Salem, Vancouver (B.C.), Missoula (Mont.) and West Seattle.

The track weekend starts Thursday with Central Washington and Western Oregon athletes competing in the Mt. Hood Multis at Gresham.

On Friday and Saturday, MSU Billings will compete in the University of Montana Al Manuel Invitational.  

Alaska Anchorage, Central Washington, Saint Martin’s and Western Oregon will be in Salem Saturday for the Willamette Invitational.

Central Washington will also send athletes to the Northwest Spring Break Open Saturday.  They’ll be joined by athletes from Seattle Pacific, Simon Fraser and Western Washington.

Other SFU athletes will stay in Canada for the UBC Open.

Alaska Anchorage 5th in USTFCCCA Rankings

Alaska Anchorage is fifth and Western Washington is 10th in the USTFCCCA Men’s Track and Field computer rankings this week.  Central Washington is 17th.

In the women’s rankings, Central Washington is 16th and Western Washington is 23rd.

Individually, four GNAC athletes have the best times in NCAA Division II in the early portion of the outdoor season, including Ryan Macdonald of Western Washington in the men’s discus.

Macdonald set WWU and GNAC records in the event last week in winning the Rose City Preview at Gresham with a throw of 177-5 to earn GNAC Field Athlete of the Week honors.

Three other athletes maintained their No. 1 national ranking – Dominik Notz of Alaska Anchorage in the men’s 5,000 (14:15.61), Shannon Porter of Saint Martin’s in the women’s 10,000 (35:39.70) and UAA’s Franz Burghagen in the men’s javelin (224-10).

Macdonald was one of seven GNAC athletes to either establish or improve on national qualifying marks.

Central Washington’s Kent McKinney and Dani Eggleston had PNQs in the men’s 100 meters (10.61) and the women’s steeplechase (11:00.27), respectively, in the Eastern Oregon Team Challenge in Hermiston, Ore., and Kevin Stanley had a PNQ in the hammer (183-9) in the Buc Scoring Invite in Spokane.

McKinney’s performance earned him GNAC Male Track Athlete of the Week honors, while Eggleston’s effort earned her the Female Track Athlete of the Week award.

Payton Lewis of Northwest Nazarene, the GNAC Indoor pole vault champion, earned a PNQ in the outdoor pole vault with a vault of 15-11 at Hermiston. 

Anna Paradee of Western Washington betted the women’s pole vault PNQ with a vault of 12-0 ½ at the Rose City Preview.  She is the GNAC Female Field Athlete of the Week.

Improving on her previous PNQ in the women’s javelin was Kali Walker of Saint Martin’s with a throw of 144-6 in the Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open.

Top 10s

With each passing year, posting a GNAC Top 10 mark is getting tougher and tougher to accomplish.

There were nine such performances last weekend led, of course, by Macdonald’s record setting effort in the men’s discus.

Here are the latest GNAC All-Time Top 10 performances:

Men: 100 – 5. Kent McKinney, CWU, 10.61.  110 Hurdles – 8. Rimar Christie, NNU, 14.80. Pole Vault – 4. Payton Lewis, NNU, 4.85 – 15-11.  Triple Jump – 8. Luke Plummer, CWU, 14.48 – 47-6 ¼.  Discus – 1. Ryan Macdonald, WWU, 54.97 0 177-5.  Hammer – 8. Kevin Stanley, CWU, 56.02 – 183-9.

Women: 400 – 9. Jahzelle Ambus, SPU, 56.06.  110 Hurdles – 10. Chelsey Knott, NNU, 14.42. 4x100 Relay – 7. Seattle Pacific (Becca Houk, Ambus, Kyra Brannan, Tasia Baldwin) 47.26.

LAST WEEK’S OUTDOOR RESULTS

Eastern Oregon Team Challenge (March 21 at Hermiston): Men – Eastern Oregon 280, College of Idaho 254, Northwest Nazarene 252 ½, Oregon Tech 219, Central Washington 159 ½, Treasure Valley 107, Bowerman TC 3. GNAC Winners:  100 - Kent McKinney, CWU, 10.61. 200 – Kent McKinney, CWU, 21.99.   4x100 Relay – Northwest Nazarene 43.76.   Pole Vault – Payton Lewis, NNU, 4.85 – 15-11. Triple Jump – Luke Plummer, CWU, 14.48 – 47-6 ¼.    Women – Northwest Nazarene 286 ½, College of Idaho 283, Eastern Oregon 231, Central Washington 197 ½, Oregon Tech 163, Treasure Valley 81.  GNAC Winners: 100 Hurdles – Chelsey Knott, NNU, 14.42.  Steeplechase – Dani Eggleston, CWU, 11:00.27. Long Jump – HarLee Ortega, CWU, 4.99 – 16-4 ½.  Triple Jump – Kelly Cronic, CWU, 11.37 – 37-3 ¾.   Discus – Sam Lester, CWU, 39.77 – 130-5.  Hammer – Caitlin Curtis, NNU, 43.47 – 142-7.

Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open (March 21 at Portland):  Men – 1.  Pacific 170, 2. Linfield 132, 3. Lewis & Clark 116, 4. Pacific Lutheran 71, 5. Trinity Lutheran 51 (6. Saint Martin’s 28). Individuals (Top 3): Javelin – 1. Brian Chalkey, SMU, 60.82 – 199-6. Hammer – 1. Mitch Wilkens, SMU, 51.99 – 170-7; 4. Vincent Fualefau, SMU, 48.52 – 159-2. Women – 1. Linfield 138, 2. Lewis & Clark 112, 3. Pacific Lutheran 99, 4. Pacific 87, 5. Northwest Christian 66 (7. Saint Martin’s 33; 10. Central Washington 13, 12. Western Washington 3).  Individuals (Top 6): 800 – 2. Kaitlyn McKinney, CWU, 2:23.76.  1500 – 4. Claudia Cortez, CWU, 5:15.37. Hammer – 1. Angel Rodgers, SMU, 48.00 – 157-6; 2. Ami Wick, SMU, 45.87 – 150-6; 6. Elizabeth Knope, WWU, 43.13 – 141-6.  Javelin – 1. Kali Walker, SMU, 44.05 – 144-6; 4. Danna Avalos, SMU, 39.38 – 129-2.

Rose City Preview (March 21 at Portland): Men (GNAC Winner): 100 – Cody Warner, WOU, 10.98.  200 – Cody Warner, WOU, 22.10. 1500 – David Ribich, WOU, 3:55.30.    110 Hurdles – Logan Myers, WWU, 15.01.  4x400 Relay – Western Washington 3:18.31.  Pole Vault – Peter Zalk,  WOU, 4.05 – 13-3 ½.  Long Jump – Brett Watson, WWU, 7.01 – 23-0. Triple Jump – Mark Seely, WWU, 13.98 – 45-10 ½.   Discus – Ryan Macdonald, WWU, 54.07 – 177-5.  Women (GNAC Winners): 2000 Steeplechase – Jessica Rawlings, SPU, 7:11.72. 4x400 Relay – Seattle Pacific 3:53.44.  High Jump – Naphtali Ward, SPU, 1.65 – 5-5.   Pole – Anna Paradee, WWU, 3.67- - 12-0 ½ .   Javelin – Katie Reichert, WWU, 46.41 – 152-3.

Buc Scoring Invitational (March 19-20 at Spokane): Men (Top 3): Shot Put – 3. Kevin Staley, CWU, 15.81 – 51-10 ½. Discus – 2. Armando Tafoya, CWU, 48.15 – 158-0. Hammer – 2. Kevin Stanley, CWU, 56.02 – 183-9.  Women (Top 3): Shot Put – 2. Amanda Youngers, CWU, 12.70 – 41-8; 3. Dorothy Moore, CWU, 12.16 – 39-10 ¾.   Hammer – 3. Amanda Youngers, CWU, 44.80 – 147-0.

GNAC 2014-15 ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

MEN

Track – Kent McKinney, Central Washington (Jr., Seattle, WA) won the 100 meters in a provisional national qualifying time of 10.61 – the fifth quickest in GNAC history – at the Eastern Oregon Team Challenge at Hermiston.  His time currently ranks seventh in NCAA Division II.  He also ran a 21.99 in the 200, which ranks second in the GNAC this spring, in sweeping the two sprint events.  Field – Ryan Macdonald, Western Washington (Sr., Bellingham, WA - Sehome) set a GNAC record in the discus at the Rose City Preview in Portland with a winning throw of 177-5 eclipsing the old mark of 175-5 set by Cameron Neel of Central Washington in 2006.

WOMEN

Week of March 17-23:  Track – Dani Eggleston, Central Washington (Jr., Longview, WA) bettered the NCAA Division II national qualifying standard in the steeplechase at the Eastern Oregon Team Challenge winning the event in a time of 11:00.27.  That time ranks second in Division II.  A week earlier she had a PNQ of 17:11.79 in the 5,000 meters at Pacific Lutheran and  currently ranks third nationally in that event.  Field – Anna Paradee, Western Washington (Fr., Tacoma, WA - Decatur) earned a provisional national qualifying mark of 12-0 ½ in winning the pole vault at the Rose City Preview.

TRACK WEEKLY (PDF)