Tuesday, February 20, 2024
by Evan O'Kelly, Assistant Commissioner For Communications

SPOKANE, Wash. – Claiming its conference-record eighth team title on Tuesday at the 2024 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted by Spokane Sports Commission at The Podium, Western Washington broke the conference record for team points in a meet with 187.66.

The Viking men reclaimed the throne after last year’s champion, Western Oregon, ended the former’s streak of three straight indoor titles. WWU’s women’s team also claimed the GNAC indoor title on Tuesday, marking the third time in conference history that a school has swept the awards.

GNAC Male Track Athlete of the Meet Kevin McDermott of Western Washington stole the show, becoming just the third man in GNAC history to claim three individual gold medals at a single championship event. The last was Micah Chelimo of Alaska Anchorage, who, like McDermott, won the mile, 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. Seattle Pacific’s Chris Randolph won the 400 meters, long jump and high jump at the second-ever GNAC Indoor Championships in 2005. McDermott is the first Viking to win the award, which was instituted prior to the 2018 event.

McDermott earned the second leg of his treble with a late move in the men’s mile race on Tuesday, pulling away on the final lap to secure the win with a time of 4:06.63. CWU’s Johan Correa checked in second in 4:07.40 and Simon Fraser’s Andrew Thomson finished third in 4:07.904. McDermott became the third Viking to claim the GNAC Indoor mile title, joining Anthony Tomsich (2010) and Sam Brancheau (2007).

Finishing off his historic performance in the 3,000 meters, McDermott ran a time of 8:25.11 for his third gold medal. Jockeying for positioning with UAA’s Michael Zapherson and CWU’s Johan Correa for much of the race, McDermott pulled away on the final lap to secure the title. Zapherson finished second in 8:26.65 and Correa earned his second medal of the meet in third at 8:27.27. McDermott’s first title of the week came in the 5,000 meters on Monday.

Alaska Anchorage freshman Joshua Caleb continued his assault on the GNAC record books, on the way to both the 60 meters and 200 meters titles. After breaking the GNAC all-time record with a time of 6.70 seconds in the prelims on Monday, Caleb followed with a time of 6.73 to claim the 60 meters crown. He followed that by breaking the GNAC all-time record in the 200 meters, climbing to No. 6 in Division II with a time of 21.18 seconds. That topped the previous GNAC record of 21.40 seconds, set in 2022 by Simon Fraser’s Callum Robinson. Caleb capped his remarkable GNAC debut by running a brilliant leg of the Seawolves’ 4x400 meter relay team, which finished second with a time of 3:18.33. He became the first Seawolf to claim the GNAC Performance of the Meet award, which was initiated in 2018.

After Caleb became the first man in UAA history to win both the 60 meters and 200 meters, his teammate Kevin Angarita became just the second man in GNAC history to win back-to-back 400 meters titles. The defending champion clocked a PR of 47.88 seconds, moving him up to No. 18 on the NCAA Division II performance list. Angarita is the first Seawolf to earn multiple titles in the 400 meters, while Liam Lindsay (2018) and Ethan Hewitt (2014) were the school’s other winners in the event. WOU’s Amari Hendrix finished second in the 400 meters with a time of 48.63, and Brian Le of Western Washington placed third in 48.81.

Drew Klein meanwhile took home the GNAC Men’s Field Athlete of the Meet award, after winning both the heptathlon and individual pole vault titles. Klein made up a narrow deficit in the heptathlon over the final three events on Tuesday, using his strengths in both the 60-meter hurdles and the pole vault to climb to the top of the standings. Klein totaled 4,923 points, holding off second-place Andrew Boyd of Saint Martin’s (4,534 points) and third-place Gabe Burchfield of Western Oregon (4,461 points).

The Western Oregon tandem of Keeton Sanchez and Isaiah Rodriguez crossed the 800 meters finish line in tandem on Tuesday, with Sanchez claiming the title in 1:54.90 and his freshman teammate following in 1:55.25. Sanchez kept WOU’s strong tradition of 800 runners going, as the Wolves have seven GNAC Indoor titles in the event – the most of any school. Jonah Bloom of Western Washington checked in third with a time of 1:55.95.

Hunter Flick of Western Washington won his first GNAC individual medal, cruising to a time of 8.11 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles. He delivered the Vikings’ seventh title in the event, the most of any school. Defending champion Justin Conklin of Western Oregon earned the silver medal with a time of 8.25 seconds, and WWU’s Jaden Edwards got onto the podium by clocking a time of 8.38 seconds.

Gabe Burchfield brought the men’s high jump to an emotional end on Tuesday, clearing a PR height of 6’ 6.75” (2.00 meters) to claim his first-ever GNAC gold medal. That was enough to hold off second-place teammate Justin Conklin and Western Washington’s Manu Greenlee and Trent Kibler, who all tied for second place with a height of 6’ 4.75” (1.95 meters).

Western Washington freshman Noah Turner turned heads in the throws pit on Tuesday, winning gold in his first-ever GNAC Championships shot put effort. Turner unleashed a winning toss of 50’ 0.00” (15.24 meters) on his final attempt Tuesday, edging out second-place Mark Warren of Western Oregon (48’ 10.75”). Isaac Perkins gave Montana State Billings its first podium finisher of the week, placing third with a throw of 48’ 9.00”. Turner joined former Viking Ben Malquist (2022) as the only two from WWU to win the event at the GNAC indoor meet.

After settling for second place in the long jump on Monday, Central Washington’s Isaiah Webster finished the meet strong with a victory in the triple jump on Tuesday. Webster dialed in a PR on his final jump, clearing 47’ 5.25” to keep CWU’s strong tradition of champions in the event alive. Webster’s title gave the Wildcats 10 of the 20 crowns since the event was founded in 2004. Marley Harrison of Western Oregon took second in the triple jump at 46’ 4.00” (14.12 meters), and WWU’s Gabe Menicke placed third at 45’ 11.25” (14.00 meters).