Monday, February 28, 2022

PORTLAND, Ore. – One team was head-and-shoulders above the field from start to finish on its way to its third consecutive crown. One team used a generational crop of runners to roar back and take its first-ever indoor title with a victory in the final race. Both teams are conference champions.

Combining excellence in sprints, distances and field events, the Western Washington men and Simon Fraser women each took home conference championships at the GNAC Indoor Track And Field Championships held on Monday and Tuesday at The Podium in Spokane, Washington. Aside from the team trophies, the two programs are now also the GNAC Co-Teams of the Week.

Western Washington’s team title was a rout. The Vikings finished with 171 points, well ahead of Simon Fraser’s 110 and Western Oregon’s 107. The Vikings received individual victories from sophomore Kevin McDermott in the 5,000 meters (14:52.36), junior Ethan Sterkel in the long jump (23-10), sophomore Kasey Provo in the pole vault (15-3), senior Mac Franks in the 800 meters (1:51.45), senior Ben Malquist in the shot put (51-1) and senior Beau Sheeran in the high jump (6-10.75).

Performances of special note included the 800 meters, where Franks improved his time that ranks No. 7 in GNAC history. Sophomore Drew Weber made it a WWU one-two finish by running 1:51.63. Sheeran’s winning high jump clearance was the third-highest mark in conference history. Western Washington earned points in 15 out of 17 men’s events that were contested.

The women’s championship had slightly more drama. Simon Fraser wasn’t projected to be much of a factor in the field events, but SFU figured they could notch their first-ever indoor track team win by being as dominant as possible in the running finals, and that’s exactly what happened.

The Simon Fraser women won the distance medley relay on Monday behind a foursome of junior Megan Roxby, junior Emily Lindsay, senior Emily Chilton and senior Alison Andrews-Paul, winning by over 15 seconds over second-place Alaska Anchorage. Sophomore Sydney Kania tied for second in the high jump to give SFU a huge field points boost, but Simon Fraser was still in fifth place at just 17 points after day one.

Once the program got to running finals, however, the tide turned. If it was on the track, the Simon Fraser women won it, earning individual champions in the mile (Roxby in 5:02.38), 800 meters (Andrews-Paul in 2:05.09), 400 meters (Lindsay in 55.79), 200 meters (freshman Marie-Eloise Leclair in 24.53) and 60 hurdles (sophomore Diana Voloshin in 8.77). They added second-place finishes by Leclair in the 60 meter dash and senior Olivia Willett in the 3,000 meters.

Despite the track exploits, the team title was still up for grabs heading into the final race, the 4x400 relay, with the top three teams separated by just four points and SFU holding a slim three-point lead over Western Oregon. Although it was yet to be wrapped up on paper, the SFU relay team made it a wrap fairly quickly. The relay squad of freshman Erika Binder, Andrews-Paul, Leclair and Lindsay had the firepower of three individual event champions no other school could match, and SFU crossed the line with a 16-second margin of victory and the first indoor title in program history. They finished with 124 points ahead of WOU’s 115 and WWU’s 113.

Andrews-Paul won the women’s Performance of the Meet award for her 800 meter victory, as her winning time of 2:05.09 topped the previous meet record by over three seconds and was the second-fastest 800 in GNAC history.

Both teams, as well as all individual GNAC event qualifiers, will now look towards the NCAA Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships, which will be contested in Pittsburg, Kansas on March 11 and 12. Qualifiers for the national meet will be announced on Tuesday.