Wednesday, May 21, 2014

ALLENDALE, Mich. -  Eight past All-Americans are among 38 Great Northwest Athletic Conference track-and-field athletes who will compete in the NCAA Division II National Track and Field meet beginning Thursday at Allendale, Mich.

The national championship meet begins at 10:30 a.m. with the decathlon and 11 a.m. with the heptathlon.

Cody Thomas of Alaska Anchorage is the No. 9 seed in the decathlon and UAA's Karolin Anders is the seventh seed in the heptathlon.  Anders finished fifth last year with a score of 5,000 points to earn All-American honors.

Past All-Americans in addition to Anders include UAA javelin thrower Fritz Burghagen, who finished third a year ago with a mark of 230-4.  Burghagen comes in as the No. 2 seed with a season-best of 229-3.

On the women’s side are five athletes who earned All-American honors in 2013 with Top 8 finishes and two who were All-Americans in previous seasons.

In addition to Anders, they include Simon Fraser’s Sarah Sawatzky who placed sixth in the 800 meters (2:10.87) and three-fourths of Seattle Pacific’s 4x400 All-American team – Kishia Mitchell, McKayla Fricker and Jasmine Johnson.

Katie Reichert of Western Washington placed seventh in the javelin (152-5) and UAA’s Ivy O’Guinn finished seventh in the 1500 (4:41.98) to earn All-American honors in the 2012 national meet.  

Javelin: 35 All-Americans and Counting

GNAC athletes have won 35 All-American awards in the javelin over the past 13 seasons, including 29 in the women’s division. Burghagen, Reichert and Division II women’s national leader Bethany Drake are among nine GNAC javelin throwers who will compete Saturday.

Drake set a GNAC all-time record of 169-6 early this season.  That mark ranks fourth in NCAA Division II history and is 14th this season among all NCAA divisions. 

She’ll be attempting to join Monika Gruszecki of Western Washington (2007, 2011) and Brittany Aanstad of Seattle Pacific (2012) as GNAC national champions in the event. 

Five GNAC athletes are among the Top 8 seeds this year including Drake (1st), Reichert (3rd) and Western Oregon’s Seabre Church (8th) in the women’s event and Burghagen (2nd) and Slater Hirst of Western Washington (6th) in the men's field.

Top Seeds

In addition to Drake, Burghagen and Reichert, two other GNAC athletes are ranked in the Top 3 in their events coming into the national meet. 

McKayla Fricker of Seattle Pacific is the No. 3 seed in the 800 meters with a best of 2:06.85 and Ivy O’Guinn of Alaska Anchorage is the No. 3 seed in the 1500 meters with a season-best of 4:25.39.

The prelims of the 800 will be held Friday at 6:15 p.m. and will feature four GNAC athletes - Fricker, Sarah Sawatzky of Simon Fraser, Lynelle Decker of Seattle Pacific and Natalie Evans of Northwest Nazarene.

O'Guinn will be joined by Connie Morgan of Central Washington in the 1500 prelims Thursday at 5:25 p.m.

Opening Day

Thursday's opening day will feature two final events in which GNAC athletes will compete.  Three-time GNAC champion Lindsay Wells will compete in the women's hammer where she is the No. 11 seed.

Entered in the women's 10,000 meters will be fifth-seed Joyce Kipchumba of Alaska Anchorage and Jordan Rehfeld of Northwest Nazarene.  That will be the first of two races for both Kipchumba and Rehfeld who will each run the 5,000 meters Saturday night.

Competing in women's prelims Thursday in addition to O'Guinn and Morgan in the women's 1500 will be Jamie Ashcroft of Alaska Anchorage in the women's 100 meters and Katelyn Steen of Western Washington and Dani Eggleston of Central Washington in the steeplechase. 

Ashford will also be joined by teammates Makenzie Harsch, Rosie Smith and Sasha Halfyard in the prelims of the women's 4x100 relay Thursday.

Competing in men's prelims Thursday will be Isaac Kangogo of Alaska Anchorage in the 1500, Alex Donigian of Western Washington and Rimar Christie in the 100 meters and Brady Beagley of Western Oregon and Simon Fraser freshman Oliver Jorgensen in the steeplechase.

NCAA DIVISION II  National Championships
May 22-24 at Allendale, Mich.

WOMEN:

Thursday:  11 a.m.  - Heptathlon  (7. Karolin Anders, UAA, 5048). 3:30 p.m. - Hammer  (11. Lindsay Wells, WWU, 55.58 – 182-4).5 p.m.  - 4x100 Relay Prelims (14. Alaska Anchorage 46.56 - Makenzie Harsch, Rosie Smith, Sasha Halfyard, Jamie Ashcroft).  5:25 p.m. - 1500 Prelims (3. Ivy O’Guinn, UAA, 4:25.39; 19. Connie Morgan, CWU, 4:32.80).  6:25 p.m. – 100 Prelims (15. Jamie Ashcroft, UAA, 11.74).  7:10 p.m. – Steeplechase Prelims  (5. Katelyn Steen, WWU, 10:34.40; 14. Dani Eggleston, CWU, 10:50.88).  8:50 p.m. - 10,000  (5. Joyce Kipchumba, UAA, 34:54.04; 16. Jordan Rehfeld, NNU, 35:45.86).  

Friday: 10:30 a.m.  - Heptathlon  (7. Karolin Anders, UAA, 5048).5:45 p.m. - 200 Prelims  (24. Jamie Ashcroft, UAA, 24.27).  6:15 p.m. – 800 Prelims (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). 7:25 p.m. – Steeplechase (Steen, Eggleston).  8:05 p.m. - 4x400 Relay Prelims (15. Seattle Pacific 3:45.63 - Kishia Mitchell, Tasia Baldwin, Jasmine Johnson, McKayla Fricker).  

Saturday: 2 p.m. - 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). 5:20 p.m. – 4x100 Relay (Alaska Anchorage).  5:30 p.m. - High Jump  (5. Tayler Fettig, CWU, 1.75 – 5-8 ¾).  5:45 p.m. – 1500 (O’Guinn, Morgan). 6:45 p.m. – 100 (Ashcroft).  7:05 p.m. – 800 (Fricker, Sawatzky, Decker, Evans). 7:55 p.m. – 200 (Ashcroft). 8:30 p.m. - 5000 (10. Joyce Kipchumba, UAA, 16:44.97; 22. Jordan Rehfeld, NNU, 16:57.15).

MEN:

Thursday: 10:30 a.m.  - Decathlon  (9. Cody Thomas, UAA, 6940). 5:10 p.m. – 1500 Prelims (14. Isaac Kangogo, UAA, 3:49.60).  6:10 p.m. – 100 Prelims (14. Alex Donigian, WWU, 10.49; 17. Rimar Christie, NNU, 10.50).  6:40 p.m. – Steeplechase Prelims (16. Brady Beagley, WOU. 9:07.66; 18. Oliver Jorgensen, SFU, 9:09.38). 

Friday: 9:30 a.m.  - Decathlon  (Thomas). 2 p.m. - Discus (10. Frank Catelli, WWU, 53.00 – 173-11).  5:30 p.m. – 200 Prelims (18. Tyrell Williams, WOU,  21.19).  6 p.m. –  800 Prelims (9. Josh Hanna, WOU, 1:50.45).  7:10 p.m. – Steeplechase (Beagley, Jorgensen).

Saturday: 11 a.m. – 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.).  2:15 p.m. - Shot Put  (5. Frank Catelli, WWU, 18.16 – 59-7).  5:35 p.m. – 1500 (Kangogo).  6:35 p.m. – 100 (Donigian, Christie).  6:55 p.m. – 800 (Hanna).  8:05 p.m. – 200 (Williams).

For more GNAC Track and Field News, check out this week's Track and Field Report.