Friday, March 13, 2015

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Simon Fraser’s distance medley relay team and Western Oregon half-miler Badane Sultessa set GNAC records Friday in Day 1 of the NCAA Division II Indoor National Track and Field meet at the Birmingham CrossPlex.

The quartet of Jennifer Johnson, Chantel Desch, Paige Nock and Lindsey Butterworth ran a GNAC-record time of 11:28.28 in finishing second in the distance medley relay.  Seattle Pacific held the old record of 11:29.88 in 2010.

Sultessa, who came in as the No. 12 seed, had the best time of the day in the 800, running a GNAC-record 1:50.73. He broke the record of 1:51.15 by Chris Olsen of Western Oregon in 2013.

Joining SFU’s DMR team as All-Americans on Friday were Western Washington distance runner Katelyn Steen, Saint Martin’s high jumper Mikel Smith and Alaska Anchorage’s DMR team of Jessica Pahkala, Rosie Smith. Haleigh Lloyd and Beatrice Decker.

Steen, who will run the 3,000 Saturday, finished fourth in the 5,000 in a time of 16:54.31.  Smith ended up in a five-way tie for fifth in the high jump to earn the Saints two team points.  He cleared 6-9 ½.  UAA’s DMR team edged Seattle Pacific’s quartet by one-hundreth of a second for the eighth and final All-American slot in that event running a time of 11:40.67.

Alaska Anchorage multi-eventer Cody Thomas has a chance to join the All-American group Saturday.  After four events of the heptathlon, he is the leader with 3,183 points.  His best performance Friday was the high jump where he cleared 6-10 ¼, the second best mark in GNAC history in any high jump competition.

Sultessa was one of five GNAC athletes to advance to Saturday’s finals in a prelim event Friday.  Also advancing were Alex Donigian of Western Washington in the men’s 60, Simon Fraser’s Travis Vugteveen in the mile, Stephanie Stuckey of Western Oregon in the women’s mile and Butterworth in the 800.  Butterworth ran the second fastest time (2:07.76) in the prelims.

Friday’s Results:

Men’s Finals: Heptathlon (4 of 7 events) – 1.  Cody Thomas, UAA, 3183 (60 – 6.97.  Long Jump – 6.79 – 22-3 ½.  Shot Put – 12.53 – 41-1 1/2; High Jump – 2.09 – 6-10 ¼ ). High Jump – 5. Mikel Smith, SMU, 2.07 – 6-9 ½.   5000 – 12. Oliver Jorgensen, SFU, 14:42.95.

Men’s Prelims: 60 -  5. Alex Donigian, WWU, 6.76 (advances). Mile – 5. Travis Vugteveen, SFU, 4:09.79 (advances), 7. Robert Peterson, MSUB, 4:11.29; 12. Brady Beagley, WOU, 4:14.84.  800   – 1. Badane Sultessa, WOU, 1:50.73.   

Women’s Finals: 5000 – 4.  Katelyn Steen, WWU, 16:54.31.  Distance Medley Relay - 2. Simon Fraser (Jennifer Johnson, Chantel Desch, Paige Nock, Lindsey Butterworth) 11:28.28; 8. Alaska Anchorage (Jessica Pahkala, Rosie Smith. Haleigh Lloyd, Beatrice Decker) 11:40.67; 9. Seattle Pacific (Jessica Rawlins, Becca Houk, Lynelle Decker, Anna Patti) 11:40.68.

Women’s Prelims:  60 – 17.  Jamie Ashcroft, UAA, 7.67.  Mile – 9. Stephanie Stuckey, WOU, 4:54.79 (advances); 13. Rebecca Bassett, SFU 4:56.86. 800 – 2. Lindsey Butterworth, SFU, 2:07.76 (advances); 11. Paige Nock, SFU, 2:12.11.  14.  Lynelle Decker, SPU 2:13.68.  200 – 9.  Jamie Ashcroft, UAA, 24.56.  

Saturday’s Finals:

Men: 9:15 a.m. - Heptathlon (Thomas). 3:30 p.m. - Pole Vault (4. Payton Lewis, NNU, 5.20 – 17-0 ¾ ). 3:50 p.m. - 60 (Donigian).  4 p.m. - Triple Jump (11. Luke Plummer, CWU, 15.06).4:25 p.m. - Mile (Vugteveen). 5:10 p.m. - 800 (Sultessa). 

Women: 9 a.m. - Pentathlon (10. Karolin Anders, UAA, 3791). 4:15 p.m. - Mile (Stuckey).  5 p.m. - 800 (Butterworth). 5:15 p.m. - High Jump (14. Tayler Fettig, CWU, 1.73 – 5-8. 5:40 p.m. - 3000 (3. Jennifer Johnson, SFU, 9:28.24; 9. Katelyn Steen, WWU, 9:38.92; 16. Rebecca Bassett, SFU, 9:43.20).