Tuesday, May 13, 2014

ALLENDALE, Mich. - Thirty-eight Great Northwest Athletic Conference track-and-field athletes will compete in the NCAA Division II national meet beginning next Thursday at the Grand Valley State Track and Field Stadium.

Among the 38 invited athletes is Bethany Drake of Western Washinton, who is the top seed in the women's javelin with a best throw of 169-6.

Drake is one of 11 GNAC athletes who have seed marks that rank in the Top 8.  The top eight finishers in each event earn All-American honors.

In addition to Drake, WWU's Katie Reichert is seeded third and Seabre Church of Western Oregon is seeded eighth in the women's javelin.

McKayla Fricker of Seattle Pacific is seeded third in the 800 meters and Ivy O'Guinn of Alaska Anchorage is the No. 3 seed in the 1500. 

Three women come in with the No. 5 best marks in their event - Katelyn Steen of Western Washington in the steeplechase, Joyce Kipchumba of Alaska Anchorage in the 10,000 and  Tayler Fettig of Central Washington in the high jump.

The top seeded men include Alaska Anchorage's Franz Burghagen and Western Washington's Frank Catelli and Slater Hirst.

Burghagen is a virtual co-favorite to win the javelin.  He has the same English mark as Nash Howe of UC San Diego (229-3).  Howe's metric mark is .01 better than the UAA thrower from Berlin.

Catelli is ranked fifth in the shot after breaking his own GNAC record with a put of 59-7 last weekend in the GNAC Championships at Monmouth.  Hirst is seed sixth in the javelin with a season-best of 214-8.

Three women will compete in two indvidual events including Jamie Ashcroft of Alaska Anchorage in both the 100 and 200 meters.  Kipchumba and Jordan Rehfeld of Northwest Nazarene will both double in the 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters.

Ashcroft will also run in the 4x100 relay joining teammates Makenzie Harsch, Rosie Smith and  Sasha Halfyard.  Seattle Pacific's foursome of Kishia Mitchell, Tasia Baldwin, Jasmine Johnson and Fricker will run the 4x400 relay. 

In all 24 GNAC women are entered - 18 in 21 individual events and six others in a single relay.

Fourteen GNAC men will compete in 15 events as Catelli is the only one to double.  In addition to be seeded fifth in the shot put, Catelli has the 10th best seed mark in the discus.

Counting its relay members, Alaska Anchorage will be represented by 10 athletes, including seven women in the meet.  Western Washington will send eight athletes, four men and four women, to Allendale.  Western Oregon has six (five men and one woman).

Seattle Pacific has five women in the meet.  Central Washington (3 women) and Northwest Nazarene (2 women, 1 man) have three each.  Simon Fraser qualified two athletes (1 male, 1 female).  Saint Martin's had one woman in the meet.

GNAC QUALIFIERS AND SEEDINGS

Women: 100 – 15. Jamie Ashcroft, UAA, 11.74.  200 – 24. Jamie Ashcroft, UAA, 24.27.  800 – 3. McKayla Fricker, SPU, 2:06.85; 11. Sarah Sawatzky, SFU, 2:09.15; 15. Lynelle Decker, SPU, 2:10.58; 20 Natalie Evans, NNU, 2:11.04.  1500 – 3. Ivy O’Guinn, UAA, 4:25.39; 19. Connie Morgan, CWU, 4:32.80.  5000 – 10. Joyce Kipchumba, UAA, 16:44.97; 22. Jordan Rehfeld, NNU, 16:57.15.  10,000 – 5. Joyce Kipchumba, UAA, 34:54.04; 16. Jordan Rehfeld, NNU, 35:45.86.  Steeplechase – 5. Katelyn Steen, WWU, 10:34.40; 14. Dani Eggleston, CWU, 10:50.88.  4x100 Relay – 14. Alaska Anchorage (Makenzie Harsch, Rosie Smith, Sasha Halfyard, Jamie Ashcroft) 46.56.  4x400 Relay – 15. Seattle Pacific (Kishia Mitchell, Tasia Baldwin, Jasmine Johnson, McKayla Fricker) 3:45.63.  High Jump – 5. Tayler Fettig, CWU, 1.75 – 5-8 ¾.  Hammer – 11. Lindsay Wells, WWU, 55.58 – 182-4.  Javelin – 1. Bethany Drake, WWU, 51.66 – 169-6; 3. Katie Reichert, WWU, 49.59 – 162-8; 8. Seabre Church, WOU, 47.48 – 155-9; 11. Kathryn Walker, SMU, 45.84 – 150-5.    Heptathlon – 7.  Karolin Anders, UAA, 5048.

Men:  100 – 14. Alex Donigian, WWU, 10.49; 17. Rimar Christie, NNU, 10.50.  200 – 18. Tyrell Williams, WOU, 21.19.  800 – 9. Josh Hanna, WOU, 1:50.45.  1500 – 14. Isaac Kangogo, UAA, 3:49.60.  Steeplechase – 16. Brady Beagley, WOU. 9:07.66; 18. Oliver Jorgensen, SFU, 9:09.38.  Shot Put – 5. Frank Catelli, WWU, 18.16 – 59-7.  Discus – 10. Frank Catelli, WWU, 53.00 – 173-11.  Javelin – 2. Franz Burghagen, UAA, 69.87 – 229-3; 6. Slater Hirst, WWU, 65.44 – 214-8; 12. Shane Brooks, WOU, 64.49 – 211-7; 16. Justin Larson, WOU, 63.04 – 206-10; 17. John Haskin, WWU, 62.53 – 205-2. Decathlon – 9. Cody Thomas, UAA, 6940.