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GNAC Members
Women's Rowing Affiliates
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Northwest Nazarene's Payton Lewis (left), Alaska Anchorage's Joyce Chelimo (center) and Karolin Anders. Photos by Loren Orr. Tuesday, March 8, 2016 PORTLAND, Ore. – Three of the top point scorers at the GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships lead a total of six individuals honored by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) in their regional awards for indoor track and field. Northwest Nazarene sophomore Payton Lewis was selected as the West Region Men’s Field Athlete of the Year. Alaska Anchorage senior Joyce Chelimo was named the West Region Women’s Track Athlete of the Year while her teammate, senior Karolin Anders, earned West Region Women’s Field Athlete of the Year. Three GNAC coaches were also recognized by the USTFCCCA. Alaska Anchorage head coach Michael Friess was named the West Region Women’s Coach of the Year, marking his his second coach of the year award from the organization this academic year (he was also the West Region Women’s Cross Country Coach of the Year). Simon Fraser’s Tom Dickson was named the West Region Men’s Assistant Coach of the Year and Seattle Pacific’s Audra Smith was recognized as the West Region Women’s Assistant Coach of the Year. The top regional honors are in addition to a total of 139 athletes from the GNAC named as USTFCCCA Indoor Track and Field All-West Region selections (a complete list follows below). The GNAC Championships Male Outstanding Athlete of the Meet, Lewis won the GNAC title in the heptathlon and pole vault and was the championships’ top scorer. His heptathlon total of 5,163 points is the third-best in league history. Along with the NCAA bid in the heptathlon, his season’s best of 16 feet, 10.75 inches in the pole vault was enough for a national championships bid as well. Chelimo returned from a redshirt season to become just the second athlete in GNAC Championships history to sweep all three distance events: the mile, 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters (her husband, Micah Chelimo, is the other). She is entered in the NCAA Championships in the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. Her time in the 3,000 meters of 9:17.97 is the fourth fastest in Division II history under all conditions indoors. Anders was named the GNAC Championships Women’s Outstanding Athlete of the Meet after earning 31 points in the meet and becoming the all-time leading individual point scorer in meet history. Anders won the pentathlon and long jump at the GNAC meet, placed third in the triple jump and fourth in the high jump. She is entered in the NCAA Championships in both the high jump and pentathlon. Friess, in his 26th year at Alaska Anchorage, led both the Seawolves men’s and women’s teams in the GNAC Championships, marking the first time one team has swept the men’s and women’s titles. In winning the women’s coaching award, Friess leads a total of eight UAA women’s athletes to the NCAA Championships, the most for a GNAC women’s program. Dickson, in his 30th season as sprints and hurdles coach at Simon Fraser, led Joel Webster to the GNAC 400-meter crown, a new championships record and an NCAA Championships bid. Smith, in her second year on the Seattle Pacific staff, coached sprinters to two GNAC titles, saw two break school records, set two conference records and three national top-10 marks. The sprints coach for the Falcons, sprinters accounted for 58 of the team’s 136 points at the GNAC Championships. GNAC USTFCCCA INDOOR ALL-WEST REGION SELECTIONS MEN
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