Monday, February 19, 2024
by Evan O'Kelly, Assistant Commissioner For Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. – Champions were crowned in five men’s events on opening day at the 2024 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships on Monday, hosted by the Spokane Sports Commission at The Podium.

Western Washington accumulated 54 points to sit atop the team standings and holds a 16-point edge over second-place Central Washington ahead of Tuesday’s finale. Reigning champion Western Oregon sits in third place with a total of 21 points.

One of Monday’s most exciting moments came on the long jump runway, when Western Washington freshman Troy Roberson cleared 23’ 3.50” (7.10 meters) to win his first-ever GNAC title. The PR effort elevated him past Central Washington’s Isaiah Webster, who claimed the silver medal with a jump of 23’ 2.75” (7.08 meters). Down to his final attempt. Roberson unleashed his finest effort to become the fourth man in WWU history to win the event and give the Vikings their sixth title overall. Simon Fraser’s Blake Furtado made the podium in third place with a jump of 22’ 4.25” (6.81 meters).

After four previous trips to the award podium, Western Oregon’s Mark Warren finally claimed his gold medal as he emerged as weight throw champion on Monday. The Wolf junior uncorked a career-best toss of 59’ 2.25” (18.04 meters) on his fourth attempt Monday, drawing a roar from the crowd as he solidified his first-ever GNAC title. Central Washington’s Omar Young earned the silver medal with a throw of 56’ 4.50” (17.18 meters), while Western Washington’s Angelo Ramos placed third with a toss of 54’ 11.50” (16.75 meters).

Three PRs in the last month for WWU’s Kevin McDermott suggested the WWU junior is in the best shape of his life, and he confirmed that notion in a post-race interview after winning the 5,000 meter title with a time of 14:30.28. McDermott put his confidence and dominance on display down the final stretch, bursting away over the final 400 meters for a nine-second victory. The 2023 GNAC cross country champion made it six GNAC titles in the event for WWU, joined three-time champion Jordan Welling as the only other Viking to repeat after he won it in 2022 and became the seventh man overall to win multiple 5,000 meters crowns since the GNAC Indoor Championships were founded in 2004. CWU’s Johan Correa placed second in 14:39.60 and Michael Zapherson of UAA made the podium in third at 14:42.48.

Drew Klein had a productive day in Spokane, bringing home the pole vault title and putting forth a strong heptathlon foundation with three events left on Tuesday. Klein used his strengths in the long jump (21’ 3.5”) and 60 meters (7.14 seconds) to grab 2,547 points, sitting just 159 points back of the lead with the pole vault ahead of him on Tuesday. Klein dominated the pole vault, clearing a PR height of 16’ 2.75” to move up to No. 21 on the NCAA performance list. He made it two straight GNAC indoor pole vault titles for CWU after Braydon Maier claimed the 2023 crown, and became the fourth Wildcat in conference history to win the event.

Andrew Boyd of Saint Martin’s leads the heptathlon with 2,706 points after Day 1, while Anders Larsen of Alaska Anchorage sits 74 behind in second place.

Simon Fraser claimed its third straight distance medley relay title and its sixth in the last seven meets with a strong showing on Monday. Aiden Good, who was on each of the previous two DMR-winning units, was joined by newcomers Jose Castro, Colton Plummer and Jacob Wadhwani to combine for a time of 10:09.75. That was enough to hold off second-place Western Washington by just under four seconds, as the Viking quartet of Samuel Lingwall, Owen Windrope, Ian Eifert and Leo Rutledge combined for 10:13.70. The NNU men also made the podium, with Carter Stedman, Jonah Rau, Micah Chi and Ian Stockett earning all-conference honors in third place at 10:17.25.

Joshua Caleb picked up right where he left off in his debut collegiate meet, as the Alaska Anchorage freshman blew away the competition with a GNAC-record 60 meters time of 6.70 seconds. That was 0.02 seconds faster than Alex Donigian’s 2014 mark of 6.72 seconds, as the former Viking held the record for a decade. Caleb also had the top prelim time in the 200 meters, running 21.49 seconds as he has a strong chance for a pair of gold medals in his GNAC Championships debut. Caleb followed with a meet-record 200 meters time of 21.49 seconds, as he was just 0.09 seconds off the GNAC all-time record of 21.40 seconds.

Simon Fraser pushed three runners through to the 60-meter finals, with Jesaiah Penson-McCoy (6.87 seconds), Jacob Hall (6.87 seconds) and Liam O’Donnell (6.90 seconds) each registering top-five marks in the prelims. Reigning champion Dominique Loggins of Western Oregon kept his hopes of defending his title alive with a prelim time of 6.94 seconds.

Kevin Angarita finished the day where he started it – at the top of the GNAC 400 meters list with a prelim time of 48.51 seconds. Angarita also ran the second-fastest 200 meters prelim time at 21.78 seconds, behind only his teammate Caleb. The reigning GNAC champion in the 400 meters will look to defend his title on Tuesday, after WOU’s Amari Hendrix (48.81 seconds) finished just behind him in the preliminary round.

Jonah Bloom emerged as Western Washington’s best chance for a third straight 800 meters title, winning his heat in 1:55.52 to claim his spot in the finals. WOU’s Isaiah Rodriguez nabbed the top prelim time in the event at 1:53.61, crossing the finish line in tandem with teammate Keeton Sanchez who ran 1:53.68.

WWU’s Hunter Flick, the GNAC record holder in the 60-meter hurdles, clocked the fastest time of the prelims at 8.19 seconds. Reigning GNAC champion Justin Conklin of Western Oregon maintained a strong bid to repeat, checking in with a PR mark of 8.25 seconds.