Friday, May 13, 2016

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Convincing victories for Central Washington seniors Dani Eggleston in the steeplechase and Tayler Fettig in the high jump gave the Wildcats the women’s team lead after the first day of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships, held at Western Oregon University’s McArthur Field.

Eggleston led the race from start to finish and cruised to a five-second victory over Montana State Billings’ Della Lyle with a time of 10:23.58 for her first GNAC title.

Fettig, meanwhile, earned her second conference title in the high jump and did so in record fashion as she won with a clearance of 5 feet, 9.75 inches. The performance bettered the previous meet record of 5 feet, 8.5 inches, set by Seattle Pacific’s Danielle Ayers-Sampter in 2005 and equalled by Fettig in 2014.

The duo led the Wildcats to the lead in the competition after the opening day with a score of 65 points. Northwest Nazarene sits in second place with 48.5 points and Seattle Pacific is in third with 43.5 points.

The Falcons were bolstered by senior Maliea Luquin’s second victory of the championships. A week after winning the heptathlon, Luquin added 10 more points with a victory in the long jump with her leap of 18 feet, 3.25 inches. Freshman Geneva Lehnert also provided big points with her second place finish in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 7.75. inches.

Northwest Nazarene did not have any first day champions, but picked up 18 points alone in the discus with three top-eight finishers. Brooklyn Daylong’s second place throw of 139 feet, 1.5 inches, and Jessica John’s third place throw of 135 feet, 4 inches.

Western Washington junior Megan Mortensen was one of a pair of two-time champions in the throws, winning the discus with a mark of 151 feet, 2.5 inches. That broke the meet record of 194 feet, 4 inches, set by the Vikings’ Jessica Telleria in 2006, and also set the stadium record. Western Oregon senior Emmi Collier won her second straight championship in the shot put with her mark of 45 feet, 3.75 inches.

As expected, Alaska Anchorage’s Joyce Chelimo and Caroline Kurgat engineered a one-two finish in the 10,000 meters. The duo hung behind the leaders until three laps to go and then surged ahead. Chelimo collected her second GNAC title in the event in 36:02.39 and stands one 5,000-meter victory away from sweeping the GNAC titles in all of the conference’s distance events (she won the 2015 cross country title and won the indoor mile, 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter titles). Kurgat was second in 36:07.59.

Seattle Pacific also finished with three of the six top qualifiers in Friday’s sprint preliminaries. Jahzelle Ambus was the top qualifier in the 200 meters with a time of 24.75 seconds and also made the finals in the 400 meters. Lynelle Decker was the top qualifier in the 800 meters with a time of 2:10.23. Luquin, meanwhile, was the top qualifier in the 100-meter hurdles in 13.97 seconds as the top-three qualifiers in the event all surpassed the facility record.

Alaska Anchorage had the other three top qualifiers. Senior Jamie Ashcroft set herself up for a potential third straight title in the 100 meters with a time of 12.24 seconds. She was also the No. 2 qualifier in the 200 meters at 24.75 seconds. Mary-Kathleen Cross was the top qualifier in the 400 meters at 55.92 seconds and also qualified in the 200 meters. Yvonne Jeschke was the top qualifier in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:02.78.

The final day of women’s competition will begin with the javelin at 9:45 a.m. Running events commence at 11 a.m. Field event finals will be contested in the javelin, hammer, pole vault and triple jump.