Friday, May 10, 2019

MONMOUTH, Ore. – Record heat in the Willamette Valley did little to slow down Central Washington sophomore Sidney Trinidad or Simon Fraser senior Julia Howley as both athletes reset their own conference records on day one of the 2019 GNAC Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships, presented by Under Armour, at Western Oregon University’s McArthur Field.

Trinidad smashed the record in the 400-meter hurdles that she set three weeks ago, running 58.22 seconds to cut almost a second off her record. In the process, she wiped out the meet record of 1:00.10 set by her teammate, Erykah Weems, at last year’s meet. The time also automatically qualifies Trinidad for the NCAA Division II Championships.

Howley, meanwhile, cut a second off of her record time in the steeplechase to win her first conference outdoor championship. Her time of 10:02.45 was well ahead of the previous meet record 10:14.15 set by Katelyn Steen of Western Washington in 2015.

The two performances highlighted a day that saw a total of three meet records set in the women’s meet. Seattle Pacific junior Scout Cai had the other, winning the pole vault with a clearance of 12 feet, 10 inches. That bettered the previous mark of 12 feet, 6.75 inches set by Karis Anderson of Western Washington in 2012.

Cai’s win helped propel the defending champion Falcons to the first-day team lead with 66 points. Seattle Pacific picked up 18 points in the pole vault, with freshman Madison Licari earning a second place finish, and 11 points in the steeplechase. Central Washington is in second with 53.5 points while Western Washington sits third with 40.5 points.

Central Washington senior HarLee Ortega added the women’s long jump to her heptathlon title with a leap of 11 feet, 11.25 inches. She finished just ahead of Alaska Anchorage senior Chrisalyn Johnson, who was second in 18 feet, 9.75 inches.

Concordia sophomore Katrina Linenko won both the shot put and discus, giving the Cavaliers their third straight title in both events. Linenko won the shot put with a mark of 45 feet, 5.25 inches, and then took the discus with a throw of 146 feet.

Alaska Anchorage senior Caroline Kurgat repeated as champion in the 10,000 meters, leading a field slowed by the warm conditions. Kurgat was six minutes slower than her season best with her time of 38:03.64, finishing eight seconds ahead of Seattle Pacific’s Katherine Walter.

Four of the six top qualifiers in the running preliminaries are returning champions. Seawolves’ senior Danielle McCormick took a step towards repeating as 800-meter champion as she was the top qualifier in a time of 2:09.09. Junior Vanessa Aniteye is also a step closer to her third title in the 400 meters, leading the field in 55.25 seconds.

Seattle Pacific junior Grace Bley is also looking to repeat as champion in the 200 meters as she led qualifiers in the 24.54 seconds. Central Washington senior Mariyah Vongsaveng led the field in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.00 seconds as she looks for her third title while Concordia sophomore Macie Allen led the field in the 100 meters in 11.89 seconds.

Saturday’s action will commence at 2:30 p.m. with the hammer, Running events start at 4:45 p.m. with the 4x100-meter relay.