Friday, May 9, 2014
MONMOUTH, Ore. - Frank Catelli of Western Washington won the men's shot with a GNAC record put of 59-7 Friday in one of the opening events at the 13th annual GNAC Track and Field Championships at McArthur Stadium.
That was just the start of a very fine day for the Vikings who posted victories in six different events, including in four of Friday's six men's finals.
The Vikings also got wins in the men's high jump from Brett Watson, in the long jump from Kevin Yates and from Ryan Macdonald in the discus.
Watson won the high jump for the second year in a row with a leap of 6-8 1/4. Yates finished first in the long jump with a leap of 23-1 1/4 and Macdonald won the discus with a throw of 159-11.
By the end of the day, Western Washington had racked up 103 team points and built up a 59-point lead over second-place Alaska Anchorage in the men's team standings. Northwest Nazarene is in third place with 41 points.
Among Friday's other male winners was Oliver Jorgensen of Simon Fraser who won the men's steeplechase in a time of 9:17.20 as Micah Chelimo of Alaska Anchorage had to drop out midway through the race after falling in the water jump.
Chelimo sustained a partial tear of his achilles tendon which will require surgery. Chelimo came into the meet as the No. 1 ranked athlete in the nation in both the 5,000 and 10,000. But, the injury will effectively end his college career.
The Viking women won two events as Katelyn Steen finished first in the steeplechase in a time of 10:34.40 and Tanya Bjornsson placed first in the long jump with leap of 18-11 3/4.
That enabled the WWU women to finish the day in third place with 45 points, two back of Central Washington and 24 behind first-place Northwest Nazarene.
NNU won two events in grabbing the first-day team lead.
Vessie Umu repeated in winning the women's shot with a put of 44-3 1/2. NNU also got a win from freshman Alison Silva in the pole vault with a vault of 11-0 1/4 giving her a sweep of the GNAC indoor and outdoor championships in her rookie season.
Another winner Friday was Corrie Holm of Montana State Billings who defended her top seed in the women's discus with a throw of 143-4.
Other winners Friday included Joyce Kipchumba of Alaska Anchorage who won the women's 10,000 in a time of 35:43.38. UAA's Victor Samoei won the men's 10,000 in a time of 31:14.59, leading a 1-2-3 Seawolf sweep.
Catelli, who also finished third in the discus Friday (149-0), set the only meet record on the day with his record effort in the shot.
Action continues Saturday morning beginning with the women's hammer at 9:30. The first running event will be the women's 4x100 relay at 11 a.m.
Men (7 of 21 Events) - Western Washington 103, Alaska Anchorage 44, Northwest Nazarene 41, Central Washington 26, Western Oregon 20, Simon Fraser 18, MSU Billings 10, Saint Martin’s 7, Seattle Pacific 4.
Women (7 of 21 Events) – Northwest Nazarene 69, Central Washington 47, Western Washington 45, Alaska Anchorage 39, Seattle Pacific 32, Saint Martin’s 12, Simon Fraser 11, MSU Billings 10, Western Oregon 8.