Tuesday, February 13, 2018

PORTLAND, Ore. – With the 2018 GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships upcoming, Insider welcomed a pair of student-athletes poised for primetime performances. Northwest Nazarene senior thrower John Van Beuren and Seattle Pacific sophomore pentathlon athlete Scout Cai joined the program while Alaska Anchorage interim athletic director Tim McDiffett ended the night talking GNAC hoops. Insider kicked off Tuesday at 7 p.m., Pacific, and was hosted by Rob Lowery.

In his senior season, Van Beuren looks to help the Nighthawks make a strong push for a GNAC championship. Van Beuren has been superb in the buildup to the Championships, as he broke the NNU school record with a mark of 60 feet, 5.25 inches in the weight throw before smashing the school record in the shot put with a mark of 53 feet, 7 inches at the Jackson’s Invitational on Feb. 2. His efforts are No. 5 and No. 4 on the GNAC All-Time list. Last year, Northwest Nazarene finished the event just two points behind Western Oregon for third place.

Cai looks to replicate last year’s indoor success where she helped the Seattle Pacific women to its 10th GNAC championship in program history. In her freshman season, Cai took home the GNAC pentathlon with a score of 3,499 points. She comes into the 2018 Championships having already set records. Cai is No. 4 on the GNAC All-Time list with 3,709 points in the pentathlon, which was set at the Univ. of Washington Invitational on Jan. 27. In the competition, Cai set indoor personal-best marks in four of the five pentathlon events.

McDiffett is serving his third stint as UAA’s interim athletic director and has been with the Seawolves for more than three decades in a variety of capacities. Alaska Anchorage will host the 2018 GNAC Basketball Championships for the first time in school history on March 1-3 at the Alaska Airlines Center. Regular season champions the last three seasons, the Alaska Anchorage women are among three teams having already clinched a postseason berth. On the men’s side, the Seawolves are jostling for playoff position as they are in a two-way tie with the Nanooks for sixth.