Tuesday, May 3, 2022

BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Alaska Anchorage senior Elena Cano held on for victory after a strong first day in the heptathlon while Northwest Nazarene freshman Steven Schmidt surged late to win the decathlon at the GNAC Combined Events Championships, which concluded Tuesday at Civic Stadium.

After losing her lead in the long jump and javelin, Cano ran a blistering 2:18.91 in the 800 meters to earn the points needed to win the heptathlon with a score of 4,936 points. Western Oregon sophomore Jenelle Hurley, who was the GNAC indoor pentathlon champion, was second with a season-best 4,821 while Central Washington junior McCall DeChenne placed third with 4,751 points.

Schmidt, who was in second place after day one of the decathlon, was in the right place to move into the lead, earning top-three finishes in the final four events to win with a score of 6,488 points. Central Washington freshman Drew Klein placed second with 6,436 points and Saint Martin’s sophomore Andrew Boyd was third with 6,220 points.

With the victory, Schmidt completes the sweep of both of the conference’s men’s combined event disciplines. He won the indoor heptathlon title back in February.

After leading all of the first day, Cano found herself trailing most of the second day. Hurley jumped into the lead after she won the first event of the day, the long jump, with a mark of 18 feet, 10.5 inches. Western Washington freshman Matty Lagerwey made up ground by taking second in the long jump with her leap of 18 feet, 0.5 inches and winning the javelin with a throw of 120 feet, 1 inch.

Hurley was second in the javelin at 117 feet, 8 inches and Cano finished third with a mark of 111 feet, 8 inches, leaving Hurley with just a 37-point lead entering the 800 meters. From the final gun, though, it was clear that Cano was poised to win as she took second in a time of 2:18.91, 12 seconds ahead of Hurley’s third-place time of 2:30.53. The 152-point difference was more than enough to score the overall victory.

In the decathlon, Schmidt proved that his strongest day is the second day as he finished no worse than fourth in the final five events. That fourth came in the opening event, the 110-meter hurdles, in 15.98 seconds. After that, Schmidt proceeded to finish second in the discus with a throw of 113 feet, 11 inches and took third in the pole vault as he cleared 13 feet, 3.5 inches.

While the pole vault gave Schmidt the lead for good, he padded his advantage by winning the javelin with a mark of 165 feet, 8 inches. He closed the day with a fourth-place finish in the 1,500, clocking 4:50.95.

Boyd earned victories in the first two events of the day, taking the 110-meter hurdles in 15.23 seconds and the discus with a throw of 117 feet, 3 inches. Klein won the pole vault with a clearance of 13 feet, 7.25 inches and Northwest Nazarene senior Turner Nye won the 1,500 in a time of 4:41.80.

Western Oregon will carry 13 points from the heptathlon into next week’s GNAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, which take place May 13 and 14 in Ellensburg, Washington. Northwest Nazarene will carry 13 points from the decathlon into the men’s competition.