Friday, February 15, 2019

NAMPA, Idaho – Thanks to a near clean sweep of the top spots in the 5,000 meters, Alaska Anchorage emerged as the first-day leader at the GNAC Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Jacksons Indoor Center.

Led by Wesley Kirui’s championship time of 14:55.66, the Seawolves swept the top-five places in the event to account for 33 of the Seawolves’ 44 points.

Western Washington used a pair of championships to pull within two points of the Seawolves at 42 points. J.T. Konrad and Central Washington’s Braydon Maier both cleared 15 feet, 8.25 inches in the pole vault, but Konrad earned his first GNAC title with fewer misses at the previous height. Seren Dances edged out Central Washington’s Kodiak Landis for the title in the long jump with a mark of 23 feet, 0.5 inches.

Landis took a big step towards his second GNAC title in the heptathlon, scoring 2,825 points through the first four events to hold a 106-point lead over Josh Schulz of Saint Martin’s. Landis was the winner of the 60 meters (7.13 seconds) and tied the meet record with his long jump winning mark of 22 feet, 9.75 inches. Concordia’s Giovanni Brown set the meet record in the heptathlon shot put at 44 feet, 11 inches, eclipsing the 43 feet, 7 inches set by fellow Cavalier James Phillips last year.

Simon Fraser set a GNAC Championships record in the men’s distance medley relay. The squad of Pierre-Louis Detourbe, Nate St. Romain, Aaron Ahl and Rowan Doherty pull away for the win with a time of 9:58.18, surpassing the previous meet record of 10:04.58 set by the Clan in 2012.

Saint Martin’s Kauanoe Vanderpoel ended his Saint Martin’s career with a conference championship in the weight throw with a mark of 56 feet, 8.5 inches.

Western Oregon enters Saturday with two of the top qualifiers in the track events. Cody Warner had the top qualifying time in 60 meters in 7.01 seconds while Curt Knott had the top time in the 800 meters at 1:53.89. Saint Martin’s Jackson Hand led the way in the 200 meters at 21.92 seconds, Concordia’s Adam Brown ran the top time in the 400 meters at 49.21 seconds. Northwest Nazarene’s Skyler Galvan was the top qualifier in the 60-meter hurdles at 8.41 seconds, just ahead of Western Washington’s Cordell Cummings at 8.42 seconds.

Action on Saturday begins at 8:45 a.m. with the heptathlon 60-meter hurdles. Field events commence at 10 a.m. with the running events to follow at 11 a.m.