Thursday, May 25, 2017

BRADENTON, Fla. – It was a personal best of national championship proportions for Northwest Nazarene’s Payton Lewis, whose victory in the men’s pole vault led the efforts by GNAC athletes on day one of the 2017 GNAC Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the IMG Academy Complex.

Lewis won in a duel with Central Missouri’s Cole Phillips as both athletes cleared 17 feet, 7 inches. The junior cleared the bar on his first attempt while Phillips needed all three attempts for the make, giving Lewis his first national title. Lewis, in fact, had only two misses in the competition before that height, which included just two attempts at what was also a PR at 17 feet, 3 inches.

The effort not only breaks his own NNU school record, set at last month’s Utah/Idaho Border Clash meet, but moves Lewis to No. 2 on the GNAC all-time list. Only Western Washington’s Ryan Brown, who set the GNAC record at 17 feet, 8.5 inches, in 2010, has leapt higher than Lewis.

Lewis’ championship was one of three All-American performances on the day. The first All-American trophy of the meet went to Saint Martin’s Kirby Neale, who closed her career with a fourth place finish in the women’s hammer. Her personal best throw of 194 feet, 8 inches, on her third throw of the competition, broke the GNAC record of 190 feet, 9 inches, set by Concordia’s McKenzie Warren at the GNAC Outdoor Championships.

Alaska Anchorage’s Dominik Notz earned the only GNAC All-American trophy among the running event finals, placing third in the men’s 10,000 meters with a time of 29:41.40.

The Seawolves’ Karolin Anders finds herself in All-American contention after the first four events of the heptathlon. Anders sits in seventh place with 3,090 points, on a day that saw her set a UAA record in the high jump with her clearance of 5 feet, 8.75 inches. The performance moved Anders up to No. 3 on the GNAC all-time list. She also managed a second place finish in shot put with a mark of 38 feet, 11.5 inches.

In the other field event final of the day involving GNAC athletes, Seattle Pacific senior Kyra Brannan finished out her career with a 15th place finish in the women’s long jump, leaping 19 feet, 5.25 inches.

In Thursday’s running event preliminaries, Western Oregon’s David Ribich and Dustin Nading surprised no one by both advancing to the men’s 1,500-meter final. Ribich, who owns the top time in Division II, cruised to win the opening preliminary heat in 3:51.85 to automatically advance to the final. Nading finished fourth in the second set and advances with the fourth fastest time in the preliminaries at 3:50.76.

Simon Fraser’s Julia Howley earned a spot in Saturday’s women’s 1,500-meter final, running 4:28.01 to take the fourth and final automatic qualifying spot in the opening heat. Howley’s time was just a second back of top qualifier Emilee Trost of Minnesota-Duluth, who ran 4:27.03. Her teammate, Miryam Bassett, finished 16th overall with a time of 4:31.01.

Alaska Anchorage’s Edwin Kangogo earned a spot in Friday’s men’s steeplechase final as he placed fourth in the second heat and clocked the seventh fastest time in 9:00.44. Simon Fraser’s Vladislav Tsygankov, meanwhile, earned one of two time qualifiying positions for Saturday’s men’s 400-meter hurdles final, placing third in his heat in 52.00 seconds.

Montana State Billings’ Sam Zook earned Second Team All-American honors with a 12th place finish in the men’s 100-meter preliminaries, clocking a time of 10.52 seconds.

In the women’s 400-meter hurdles, Central Washington’s Emily Bland placed 14th with a time of 1:01.11. The open 400-meter prelims saw Alaska Anchorage’s Vanessa Aniteye placed 20th in the preliminaries with a time of 56.20 seconds while Simon Fraser’s Chantel Desch placed 22nd in 56.25 seconds.

The Seawolves’ Mariah Burroughs placed 16th overall in the women’s steeplechase preliminaries with a time of 10:46.90 while Western Washington’s Brittany Grant placed 22nd with a time of 11:49.98.

Friday competition will begin at 9:30 a.m. (Eastern) with the first event involving GNAC athletes, the heptahlon, commencing at 10:30 a.m. Finals involving conference athletes include the men’s triple jump, men’s steeplechase and the women’s high jump. Preliminaries will be contested in the 200 meters and 800 meters.