Saturday, February 18, 2017

NAMPA, Idaho – It came down to the final event of the meet and, in the end, it came down to hundreths of a second.

That hundredth of a second in the 4x400-meter relay between Alaska Anchorage and Simon Fraser proved to be the difference for Seattle Pacific Saturday, which capitalized on that close race to win the team title at the GNAC Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships on the Jackson Track at the Ford Idaho Center.

The three teams engaged in an electric relay race that provided the perfect punctuation for an exciting meet. Seattle Pacific led the second section of the relay much of the way, but Becca Houk was overtaken in the final 200 meters by UAA’s Vanessa Aniteye and Simon Fraser’s Chantel Desch. The two dueled over the final 100 meters before Antieye’s dive at the line proved enough for the win by one-hundreth of a second, 3:46.99 to 3:47.00.

That two-point swing provided the Falcons the points they needed for the title, finishing with 124 points. Simon Fraser was a close second with 120.5 points while Alaska Anchorage placed third with 113 points.

While Seattle Pacific claimed the title from Alaska Anchorage, the Seawolves had the Women’s Athlete of the Meet in Jamie Ashcroft. The senior broke both of her own GNAC records to win the 60 meters and 200 meters. She opened by battling to the win in the 60 meters in a time of 7.55 seconds, becoming just the second female athlete in GNAC history to win four indoor track titles. Ashcroft ran 7.54 seconds in Friday’s preliminaries to break her previous GNAC and meet record of 7.60 seconds, set in 2015.

Ashcroft then went on to win the 200 meters in a time of 24.09 seconds, which bettered her record of 24.25 seconds set at the 2015 GNAC Championships. She also ran the opening leg on Alaska Anchorage’s winning 4x400-meter relay team.

Seattle Pacific athletes won two individual titles to bolster its title bid. Senior Kyra Brannan won the high jump with a mark of 19 feet, 0.5 seconds in Friday’s section. Sophomore Geneva Lehnert won the high jump on Saturday with a clearance of 5 feet, 5.25 inches. In addition to the high jump, Lehnert placed second in the long jump and third in the pentathlon.

Falcons' freshman Scout Cai was the first champion of the meet as she won the pentathlon on Friday with a score of 3,499 points.

Simon Fraser claimed three individual titles. Sophomore Addy Townsend repeated as champion in the 800 meters with a time of 2:12.09 while Desch won the 400 meters in 55.37 seconds. Senior Ella Brown was a winner in the triple jump with her mark of 39 feet, 10 inches. The Clan also won Friday’s distance medley relay in 12:05.77.

Alaska Anchorage junior Caroline Kurgat added two indoor titles to the GNAC cross country title she won in the fall. She won Friday’s 5,000 meters in 17:44.08 and opened Saturday with a win in the mile in 4:53.07. The 3,000 meters, however, belonged to Saint Martin’s senior Shannon Porter, who pulled away from Kurgat in the final 400 meters to win in 10:01.86.

Northwest Nazarene’s Lexi Tubbs overcame a slow start out of the blocks to win her first GNAC title in the 60 meters in a time of 8.68 seconds. The junior ran in the meet after having played basketball for the Crusaders on Thursday at Western Oregon. She left not long after her win for Portland, where NNU was to play Concordia.

Concordia senior McKenzie Warren repeated as the conference champion in both throwing disciplines. She won the weight throw on Friday with a mark of 56 feet, 10 inches, and added the shot put on Saturday with a meet record of 55 feet, 10.25 inches.

Western Washington junior Anna Paradee put together a career day to win the pole vault over defending champion Michaella Kahns of Seattle Pacific with a clearance of 12 feet, 6.75 inches. Kahns finished third with a mark of 12 feet, 0.5 inches.

WOMEN’S TEAM SCORES: Seattle Pacific 124, Simon Fraser 120.5, Alaska Anchorage 113, Central Washington 84, Concordia 60, Western Washington 51.5, Northwest Nazarene 41, Saint Martin’s 35, Western Oregon 25, Montana State Billings 8.

WOMEN’S ATHLETE OF THE MEET: Jamie Ashcroft, Alaska Anchorage