Tuesday, February 19, 2019

PORTLAND, Ore. - GNAC Insider returned Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. (PST) with visits from three student-athletes as crossover season rolls on.

Starting off the show was Tyler Cronk, the GNAC's new champion in the men's high jump. Cronk, a freshman at Saint Martin's, impressed over the weekend at the GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Kent, Washington native won the event by nearly five inches and was the only jumper to clear the 7-feet mark, ending with 7-feet, 0.5-inches. The leap earned Cronk the Performance of the Meet. 

It's been a fantastic freshman campaign for Cronk, who has picked up three GNAC Athlete of the Week awards throughout the season. The Saints will compete in the SPU Final Qualifier meet this weekend in Seattle before preparing for the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships in March.

Up in Burnaby, Simon Fraser's softball team is off to a red-hot start to open the 2019 campaign. The Clan are 5-1 on the season and will return to the diamond on March 1 to host Northwest Nazarene. 

The team has been led in part by catcher Amanda Janes. The junior leads SFU with 10 RBIs in six games and is one of just a handful of players to start all six contests for her club. Janes joined the show to talk about her performance thus far while taking a look ahead to preview conference play. 

GNAC Insider was also joined by Montana State Billings men's basketball freshman Brendan Howard. Howard has put together a standout season in Billings, averaging 15.5 points and five rebounds per game to put himself in contention for the GNAC's Freshman of the Year honor. He will lead the Yellowjackets back to the hardwood for a pair of contests this week, headlined by a showdown at No. 11 Saint Martin's on Saturday night.