Saturday, May 27, 2023

PUEBLO, Colo. – Two finals, two big performances for Simon Fraser sophomore Marie-Éloïse Leclair as she led three GNAC athletes to earn All-American honors as the NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championship concluded Saturday at the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl.

Leclair opened her day with a fifth-place finish in the 100 meters, running a time of 11.22 seconds that was aided by a wind of +5.6 meters per second. The allowable wind for a conference record is +4.0 meters per second. The time is the fastest in conference history under all conditions and faster than her record of 11.44 seconds at the GNAC Championships.

In her second race, the 200 meters, the wind better cooperated and Leclair ran a solid race to place third with a time of 23.14 seconds behind a wind of +3.4 meters per second. That surpassed her previous record of 23.42 seconds at April’s Bryan Clay Invitational.

Simon Fraser junior Charlie Dannatt earned his second outdoor All-American trophy with a fifth-place finish in the men’s 1,500 meters in a time of 3:5458. In seventh place after two laps, Dannatt moved up to sixth at 1,100 meters and then finished with a 55.99-second final lap to move place fifth in a close race that saw the top eight places separated by less than a second.

Western Washington sophomore Marian Ledesma ended her season with a fifth-place finish in the women’s 800 meters, putting together a steady race to finish in a time of 2:09.92.

Northwest Nazarene sophomore Kinsey Yenor led the conference’s three Saturday field-event participants, placing 15th in the women’s pole vault with a clearance of 12 feet, 7.5 inches. Western Oregon senior Kaylee Wright closed out her career with a 19th-place finish in the women’s javelin with a throw of 129 feet, 8 inches. Nighthawks sophomore Steven Schmidt ended his meet with a no-height in the men’s high jump at the opening bar of 6 feet, 8.25 inches.

Simon Fraser was the top-placing team for both the men and women. The Red Leafs women tied for 23rd place with 10 points while the men tied for 41st place with four points.