Thursday, March 24, 2016

THIS WEEK'S GNAC TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
MEN’S TRACK
Josh Hanna, Western Oregon
Senior • Quincy, Calif.

Hanna ran a NCAA Championships provisional qualifying mark in the 800 meters at the Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open, placing second in the race with a time of 1:51.72. The time currently leads the GNAC and is tied for fifth best in Division II this season.

Also Nominated: Isaac Mitchell (Northwest Nazarene), Latrelle Swayne (Saint Martin’s).

MEN’S FIELD
Matt Dehan, Saint Martin’s
Sophomore • Yelm, Wash.

Dehan won the pole vault at the Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open with a school record clearance of 16 feet, 2 inches. The mark easily bettered the previous Saints’ record of 15 feet, 4.5 inches, set last season. The NCAA Championships provisional qualifying mark is the best in the GNAC and fourth in Division II this season.

Also Nominated: John Haskin (Western Washington). Josh Koch (Concordia), Jared Webster (Northwest Nazarene).

WOMEN’S TRACK
Jalen Tims, Seattle Pacific
Senior • Portland, Ore.

Tims ran a personal best 1:01.30 in the 400-meter hurdles at the Lewis & Clark Spring Break Classic, finishing second to an athlete from Oregon State. The performance leads the GNAC, is a NCAA Championships provisional qualifier, fourth best in Division II this season and is the fourth best time in GNAC history.

Also Nominated: Nicole Pederson (Concordia), Lisa Peterson (Saint Martin’s), Lexi Tubbs (Northwest Nazarene).

WOMEN’S FIELD
Ellie Logan, Northwest Nazarene
Freshman • Fossil, Ore.

Competing in her first collegiate track meet, Logan set a school record in the javelin at the Eastern Oregon Team Challenge with a mark of 146 feet, 4.25 inches. In winning the event, Logan set a NCAA Championships provisional qualifying mark with the fourth best mark in the GNAC this season and the ninth best in Division II.

Also Nominated: Bethany Drake (Western Washington), Christina MacDonald (Concorda), Kirby Neale (Saint Martin’s).

AROUND THE GNAC
JAVELIN U: The first weeks of the outdoor season have been good for Western Washington, but have been the best for the javelin throwers. The Vikings enter the week with five athletes qualified for the NCAA Division II Championships in the event.

Four of those qualifiers are women. Bethany Drake made her presence known immediately upon her return from a redshirt season. The 2014 Division II champion automatically qualified for this year’s national meet in her first meet back, throwing 164 feet, 7 inches, at the Puget Sound Quad Meet on Mar. 5.

The other three women all improved their provisional marks or got into the list at last weekend’s Lewis & Clark’s Spring Break Open. Katie Reichert threw the fourth best mark in the nation at 157 feet, 3 inches. Anosi Laupola is seventh with her mark of 149 feet, 3 inches and Mariah Horton improved to 11th with her throw of 143 feet, 4 inches.

John Haskin became the first WWU male thrower to join the list at the Lewis & Clark meet. His mark of 204 feet, 8 inches, is the second throw over 200 feet by a GNAC athlete this season and ranks him third in Division II.

MAKING THE TRANSITION: A number of GNAC athletes who participated in the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships made seemless transitions to the outdoor portion of the schedule.

Western Washington’s Jasmine McMullin opened her outdoor campaign by putting up Division II’s best mark in the triple jump. Her mark of 39 feet, 5.25 inches was second to a Division I athlete at the Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open. The Vikings’ Miranda Osadchey made a similar transition by going 5 feet, 7.25 inches at L&C, ranking her third in Division II. Western Oregon’s Emmi Collier came back for the fifth best mark in Division II in the shot put with her mark of 46 feet, 6.5 inches, at the L&C meet. After participating in her first indoor nationals in the 400 meters, Seattle Pacific’s Jalen Tims went to Lewis & Clark and ran 1:01.30 in the 400-meter hurdles, currently fourth best in the nation.

On the men’s side, Western Washington’s Travis Milbrandt ran the sixth best time in Division II at L&C in the 110-meter hurdles at 14.42 seconds.

FIRST TIME OUT: Northwest Nazarene’s Ellie Logan had not participated in track and field in college before traveling to Hermiston, Ore., last weekend to compete at the Eastern Oregon Team Challenge. Now she is on her way to a potential berth at the national meet.

Logan hurled the javelin an impressive 146 feet, 4 inches at the meet. The mark not only provisionally qualifies her for the NCAA Division II Championships, but also broke the NNU record of 142 feet set by Lakiesha Nilles in 2010.The mark is currently ninth best in Division II.
A two-time All-GNAC selection in women’s basketball, Logan led the Crusaders in scoring with an average of 13.9 points per game and led the GNAC with her free throw percentage of 88.9 percent.

Logan was recruited to Nampa to bolster the NNU rosters in both sports. She was a three-time Oregon 1A high school state champion in the javelin and also was a two-time state champion in the 100-meter hurdles, triple jump and 200 meters. She had a prep best of 155 feet, 6 inches, in the javelin.

Logan is one of two basketball/track crossovers competing for the Crusaders. Lexi Tubbs participated in both indoor track and basketball at the same time and currently owns the GNAC’s top mark in the 100-meter hurdles at 14.45 seconds. Kate Cryderman also crossed over between the indoor and basketball seasons in the throws.

ALASKA ANCHORAGE IN PROGRAM OF YEAR CONVERSATION: Thanks to their placings at both the cross country and indoor track nationals, Alaska Anchorage finds themselves in the top-five of the USTFCCCA’s Program of the Year standings for Division II.

The Seawolves’ men are fourth in Division II after the two seasons while the women are in fifth. Both teams have 17.5 points in a system that is based on a team’s finish at each NCAA championship in cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field (first place is one point, second place is two points, etc.).

Seattle Pacific’s women is the only other GNAC program on the Program of the Year list, currently seventh with 27 points.

MORE NATIONALS QUALIFIERS: Five other GNAC men’s competitiors also attained provisional qualifying marks for the NCAA Championships. Western Oregon’s Josh Hanna is tied for fifth in the 800 meters with his time of 1:51.72 at the L&C Spring Break Open. The time helped Hanna earn GNAC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week honors. Saint Martin’s Matt Dehan earned GNAC Men’s Field Athlete of the Week honors with his mark of 16 feet, 2 inches, in the pole vault at Lewis & Clark. That is fourth best in Division II. Northwest Nazarene’s Cole Hoberg tied for the 10th best mark in the high jump with his 6 feet, 8 inches at the Eastern Oregon Team Challenge. Central Washington’s Luke Plummer improved his provosional qualifying mark in the triple jump with a lleap of 48 feet, 0.75 inches at Eastern Oregon. Teammate Kodiak Landis hit a provisional qualifier in the decathlon with his score of 6,228 points at Buc Scoring Invite in Spokane.

IN THE NATIONAL POLLS: Western Washington’s men and women both took quantum leaps in the USTFCCCA Division II Outdoor Computer Rankings. The Vikings’ women jumped 12 spots to No. 6 while the men climbed eight spots to No. 10. Western Oreogn climbed two positions in the men’s poll to No. 23. Central Washington stayed put at No. 20 in the men’s poll and dropped two position to No. 22 in the women’s poll. Western Oregon (No. 22) and Saint Martin’s (No. 25) dropped out of the women’s poll after making appearances in the opening week.

SEATTLE PACIFIC HONORS HERITAGE: Seattle Pacific will honor one of the true legends in running with the Doris Heritage Distance Carnival meet on Saturday in Seattle. The meet, formerly operated by Club Northwest and known as the Ckub Northwest Spring Break Open, will be the Falcons’ only home meet of the season. The meet will lean heavily on distances with the 800 meters, 1.500 meters, 3,000-meter steeplechase, 5,000 meters and 10,00 meters being contested along with a limtied number of sprints and field events.

The meet honors Doris Heritage, who coached for four decades at Seattle Pacific. A pioneer in women’s rrunning, Heritage ran a 4:52 mile indoors in 1966, becoming the first woman to eclipse five minutes for the mile indoor. During her athletic career, Heritage won five straight international cross country titles, was a two-time Olympian and at one time owned every American record from the 440 yards to the mile.

Heritage was the second woman inducted into the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Associations Hall of Fame in 1999 and was inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame in 2002.