Wednesday, February 21, 2018

WILDCATS, FALCONS SHARE GNAC WOMEN'S INDOOR TITLE: Thanks to an impressive victory in the final event, the 4x400-meter relay, Central Washington and Seattle Pacific both claimed a share of the team title at the GNAC Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships, which concluded Saturday at the Jacksons Track.

The Wildcats overtook Alaska Anchorage midway through the relay and held off a surge in the final 200 meters by Simon Fraser to win the event and pull into the tie with the Falcons. The team of Sydney Trinidad, Katie Collins, Erykah Weems and Ali Anderson won in a time of 3:50.24, just ahead of Simon Fraser’s 3:50.68.

With both scoring 136 points, Seattle Pacific claimed its 12th women’s indoor title Central Washington became the first team other than SPU and Alaska Anchorage to win a GNAC women’s indoor track team title.

Anderson was selected by coaches the Women’s Track Athlete of the Meet for her victories in the 200 meters and 400 meters as well as her efforts in the 4x400-meter relay. Anderson won the 200 in a time of 25.00 seconds, charging ahead of Seattle Pacific’s Grace Bley (25.08) over the final 50 meters. Anderson claimed the 400-meter title with a time of 55.68 seconds.

Western Washington’s Jasmine McMullin was named the Women’s Field Athlete of the Meet after she claimed the title in both the long jump and triple jump. After winning the long jump on Friday, McMullin set both the GNAC and meet record to win her third championship in the triple jump with a mark of 41 feet, 7.25 inches. The performance was recognized by coaches as the Women’s Performance of the Meet. Read The Full Meet Recap

CONCORDIA RIDES FOUR INDIVIDUAL CHAMPS TO MEN'S TITLE: A pair of championships in the sprints by Carlos Ortiz, along with victories by James Phillips in the hurdles and Josh Koch in the shot put, gave Concordia its first men’s conference championship as they won the GNAC Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday at the Jacksons Track.

In its first season as a full NCAA Division II member, the Cavaliers parlayed the four individual titles into a team title as they finished with a score of 114 points to finish six points of three-time champion Alaska Anchorage.

Ortiz led the way with his two titles for the Cavaliers. The senior opened his Saturday with the title in the 60 meters with a time of 6.85 seconds. He later laid claim to the meet record in the 200 meters as he pulled out the close victory over Alaska Anchorage’s Darrion Gray with an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying time of 21.56 seconds.

Phillips emerged in a very close race in the 60-meter hurdles, winning with a time of 8.30 seconds while Northwest Nazarene freshman Elijah Castro was second with a time of 8.32 seconds. In all, the top-five finishers were divided by nine-thousandths of a second. In addition, Phillips placed second in the heptathlon with a score of 4,981 points. Koch, meanwhile, won his second title in three years in the shot put by just under two feet with a mark of 55 feet, 4.25 inches.

Alaska Anchorage was second with 108 points while Western Oregon placed third with 91 points. The Wolves were followed by Northwest Nazarene (84 points), Western Washington (76.5 points), Central Washington (64.5 points), Simon Fraser (56 points), Montana State Billings (39.5 points), Saint Martin’s (17.5 points) and Seattle Pacific (7 points).

The Wolves’ David Ribich was named the Track Athlete of the Meet after he won both the mile and the 800 meters. The Division II leader in the mile coasted to the victory with a time of 4:11.08. He led a pack of five WOU athletes in the top-eight in the event. Ribich later won the 800 meters in a meet record time of 1:50.83 that was recognized as the Men’s Performance of the Meet.

Alaska Anchorage’s Chris Brake was selected by coaches as the Field Athlete of the Meet after he placed in the top-three in three different events. Brake won the triple jump with a mark of 47 feet, 7.25 inches, was second in the high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 7 inches, and third in the long jump with a mark of 22 feet, 9.25 inches. Read The Full Meet Recap

AROUND THE GNAC
ALASKA ANCHORAGE
• Alaska Anchorage ended the GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships with four individual champions. The Seawolves’ men placed second with 108 points while the women placed fourth with 83 points.

• Sophomore Chris Brake was named the Men’s Field Athlete of the Week for a trio of top-three finishes in the jumps. Brake won the triple jump with a mark of 47 feet, 7.25 inches, placed second in the high jump with a clearance of 6 feet, 7 inches, and was third in the long jump with a mark of 22 feet, 9.25 inches.

• Junior Danielle McCormick came through, as expected, with the title in the women’s 800 meters as she won with a time of 2:09.19. Her season best of 2:07.63 in the event is an automatic qualifier for the NCAA Championships.

• Senior Tamara Perez gave Alaska Anchorage its third straight women’s mile champion, winning in a time of 5:00.52. During the prelims of the women’s 800, Perez ran an automatic qualifying time of 2:08.65.

• Senior Liam Lindsay was the champion in the men’s 400 meters with a time of 48.50 seconds that earned him an NCAA Championships provisional qualifier.

• Freshman Felix Kemboi gave UAA its sixth straight champion in the men’s 5,000 meters. Kemboi was a winner by four seconds with a time of 15:12.63.

• Senior Darrion Gray placed second in both sprint events, taking second in the 60 meters in 6.92 seconds and the 200 meters in 21.60 seconds.

• The men’s 4x400-meter relay team of Nicholas Taylor, Gray, Daniel Remington and Lindsay won by four seconds, claiming the title in a time of 3:16.44.

• Alaska Anchorage’s women enter the week ranked No. 11 in the USTFCCCA Division II Computer Rankings.

• The Seawolves will participate in the SPU Final Qualifier on Saturday in the last tuneup for the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON
• A dramatic win by the women’s 4x400-meter relay team allowed Central Washington to claim its first women’s indoor track title with a score of 136 points, tying for the crown with Seattle Pacific.

• The team of Sidney Trinidad, Katie Collins, Erykah Weems and Ali Anderson held off Simon Fraser for the win with a time of 3:50.64. The Clan was second in 3:50.68.

• Anderson was named the Women’s Track Athlete of the Meet after she won both the 200 and 400 meters and anchored the 4x400-meter relay team. Anderson edged out Seattle Pacific’s Grace Bley title in 25.00 seconds and took the 400 meters in 55.68 seconds.

• Junior Mariyah Vongsaveng won her second women’s 60-meter hurdles title in three years with a time of 8.58 seconds that ranks seventh in Division II.

• The Central Washington men finished sixth with a score of 64.5 points. Freshman Braydon Maier was the Wildcats’ one individual title winner, taking the heptathlon with a score of 5,006 points. He took the title won last year by senior Kodiak Landis, who had to withdraw from the event due to injury on day two. Landis went on to place third in the 200 meters in 21.93 seconds.

• Senior Armando Tafoya took second place in both throws. He took second in the shot put with a season-best mark of 53 feet, 6.5 inches and second in the weight throw with a mark of 58 feet, 5.5 inches.

• The Wildcats will close the indoor track regular season by participating in the SPU Final Qualifier in Seattle.

CONCORDIA
• Four individual event winners led the Concordia men to their first GNAC indoor team title, placing six points ahead of Alaska Anchorage with 114 points.

• Senior Carlos Ortiz won both sprints to lead the way for the Cavaliers. He won the 60 meters in a time of 6.85 seconds and then set a GNAC and meet record in the 200 meters with a time of 21.56 seconds. Ortiz is tied for 15th in Division II in the 60 meters and 19th in the 200 meters.

• Thirty-four of the Cavaliers’ 114 points came in the throws. Senior Josh Koch earned his second GNAC title in the shot put, posting a two-foot win with a mark of 55 feet, 4.5 inches. Jakob Chamberlin was third in 52-8.5. Joe Denniston led four CU placers in the weight throw, taking fourth in 54-10.25.

• Junior James Phillips collected the championship in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.30 seconds and was second in the heptathlon with a score of 4,981 points.

• The Concordia women had a great meet as well with two individual champions and a third-place team finish with 93 points.

• Junior Tori Johnson earned her second GNAC championship in the high jump, improving her season best with a mark of 5 feet, 7.25 inches. The mark is tied for ninth best in Division II this season. Johnson also took sixth in the 60 meters.

• Much like the men, Concordia scored an impressive 62 points in the two throws. Senior Christina MacDonald set a meet record as she won the weight throw with a mark of 60 feet, 0.25 inches. She also took second in the shot put (47-9.5).

• Senior Melissa Ausman gave CU its third straight title in the shot put with a mark of 50 feet, 1.75 inches. She was also second in the weight throw with a mark of 59 feet, 1 inch.

• Concordia’s women enter the week ranked No. 24 in the latest USTFCCCA Division II Computer Rankings.

• The Cavaliers will look to shore up NCAA Championships qualifying marks on Saturday at the SPU Final Qualifier in Seattle.

MONTANA STATE BILLINGS
• Montana State Billings finished eighth in the men’s competition at the GNAC Championships with 39.5 points. The MSUB women were 10th with five points.

• Senior Jorey Egeland was the Yellowjackets’ top point-scorer. Egeland placed second in the men’s 5,000 meters, finishing four seconds off the pace in a time of 15:16.78. The day before, Egeland was third in the 3,000 meters in 8:38.56.

• Freshman Lamont Frisby placed in both men’s sprints, taking third in the 60 meters in 6.97 seconds and seventh in the 200 meters in 22.23 seconds. Absent from the sprint finals was senior Sam Zook, who pulled up with an apparent injury in the preliminaries of the 60 meters.

• Sophomore Isaiah Girard placed third in the men’s high jump with a mark of 6 feet, 5 inches while senior Nels Flanagan was third in the weight throw with a mark of 56 feet, 2 inches.

• Sophomore Michaela Johnson accounted for all five of MSUB’s women’s points, placing fourth in the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 8.76 seconds.

• Barring nationals selections, the GNAC Championships was the last indoor meet of the season for MSUB. The Yellowjackets will open the outdoor season on Fri., Mar. 30, hosting the MSUB Invitational in Billings.

NORTHWEST NAZARENE
• A pair of individual champions led the Northwest Nazarene men to a fourth-place finish at the GNAC Championships with 84 points. The Nighthawks’ women placed ninth with 10 points.

• Junior Jared Webster gave NNU its fourth straight championship in the men’s pole vault, clearing 15 feet, 11 inches. The Nighthawks swept the top-three as senior Payton Lewis was second, also clearing 15-11, and sophomore Phillip Gwin finished third with a height of 14-9.

• Senior John Van Beuren picked up the conference title in the men’s weight throw with a mark of 58 feet, 6.75 inches. He also placed fifth in the shot put with a mark of 51 feet, 7.5 inches.

• Freshman Elijah Castro placed second in the men’s long jump in his first conference meet with a mark of 23 feet, 6 inches. The GNAC leader in the triple jump, Castro had only one fair jump in the preliminaries and failed to qualify for the final. In addition, Castro finished a close second in the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 8.32 seconds.

• Northwest Nazarene’s women’s points came in the jumps. Sophomore Jackie Mahowald finished fourth in the triple jump with a mark of 37 feet, 10 inches while junior Nice Laofoua placed eighth in 36-11. Junior Katie Conklin placed sixth in the high jump, clearing 5 feet, 1 inch.

• The GNAC Championships was NNU’s last scheduled indoor meet prior to the NCAA Championships. The outdoor season for the Nighthawks will begin on Fri., Mar 16, at the Hornet Invitational in Sacramento, Calif.

SAINT MARTIN’S
• Saint Martin’s ended the GNAC Championships in eighth place in the women’s team competition with 11 points while the men placed ninth with 19.5 points.

• The Saints had a pair of placers in the men’s pole vault. Senior Matt DeHan finished third with a clearance of 14 feet, 9 inches, while senior Chris Rickard placed eighth with a clearance of 13 feet, 3.5 inches.

• In the long jump, senior Anthony Manago placed fifth with a mark of 22 feet, 6.5 inches while sophomore Josh Schulz was seventh with a mark of 22 feet, 3 inches.

• The men’s 4x400-meter relay team of Guillaume Tabary, Schulz, Zach Anguay and Jackson Hand placed fourth with a time of 3:24.25, picking up five points for the Saints.

• Junior Liz Larson was the top point-scorer for the SMU women, placing third in the weight throw with a mark of 53 feet, 2.75 inches. Sophomore Ashleigh Fraser finished sixth in the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 9.75 inches.

• The Saints will wrap up the indoor portion of the schedule this Saturday at the SPU Final Qualifier in Seattle.

SEATTLE PACIFIC
• Seattle Pacific benefitted from three event winners to claim a share of the women’s team championship, tying with Central Washington with 136 points. It was the Falcons’ 12th women’s indoor track title.

• Sophomore Scout Cai won two events and was second in a third, all on the first day of competition. Cai repeated as the champion in the pentathlon with a score of 3,610 points and earned her first title in the pole vault with a lifetime-best clearance of 12 feet, 4.75 inches. Cai then placed second in the high jump with a clearance of 5 feet, 5 inches.

• Freshman Renick Meyer won the 60 meters in her first GNAC championship, outdistancing fellow freshman Meyer Quaynor of Simon Fraser in 7.71 seconds. The Falcons’ other freshman sprinter, Julia Stepper, finished third in 7.92 seconds. Meyers also placed second in the 60-meter hurdles in 8.76 seconds.

• Sophomore Grace Bley picked up a second place finish in the 200 meters with a time of 25.08 seconds as the Falcons scored 19 points in the event.

• Senior Mary Charleson had top-four finishes in two distance events, placing third in the 3,000 meters in a time of 9:59.22 and fourth in the mile in 5:02.84.

• In addition to Cai’s second-place finish in the high jump, junior Geneva Lehnert placed third as she also cleared 5 feet, 5 inches.

• The Seattle Pacific men placed 10th with a score of seven points. Senior Peyton Harris led the way, placing fifth in the 60-meter hurdles in a time of 8.39 seconds.

• Seattle Pacific will look to improve NCAA Championships marks on Saturday at the SPU Final Qualifier at the Dempsey Indoor Center.

SIMON FRASER
• Simon Fraser finished the GNAC Championships with two men’s individual titles and one women’s title. The SFU women placed sixth with 67 points while the men were seventh with 56 points.

• The Clan won titles in both the men’s and women’s 3,000 meters. Senior Julia Howley captured the women’s 3,000 meters with a time of 9:47.83. Junior Rowan Doherty laid claim to the men’s 3,000-meter title in a time of 8:28.48.

• Senior Vladislav Tsygankov became a four-time champion in the men’s long jump, taking the title on his fifth jump with a mark of 23 feet, 11.5 inches. Tsygankov also had the top qualifying time in the 400 meters in 48.83 seconds, but withdrew from the race due to illness.

• The Clan repeated as champion in both distance medley relays. The women’s squad of Paige Nock, Renate Bluschke, Alana Mussatto and Howley gave SFU a fourth consecutive title in a time of 11:37.88. The men’s team of Carlos Vargas, Joshua Adhemar, Aaron Ahl and Doherty surged past Western Oregon in the final leg to win in a time of 10:08.40.

• Senior Oliver Jorgensen picked up a third-place finish in the men’s 5,000 meters with a time of 15:16.84.

• Freshman Meyer Quaynor was the runner-up in the women’s 60 meters in a time of 7.76 seconds while Mussatto was second in the 800 meters in a time of 2:10.89. Senior Reta Dobie was runner-up to Howley in the 3,000 meters with a time of 9:57.20

• The SFU women retained their No. 16 ranking in this week’s USTFCCCA Division II Computer Rankings. The Clan is the only GNAC team, men or women, to be ranked in every poll this season.

• Simon Fraser will look to improve NCAA Championships marks this weekend at the SPU Final Qualifier in Seattle.

WESTERN OREGON
• Senior David Ribich’s two individual victories led Western Oregon’s men to a third-place finish at the GNAC Championships with 91 points. The WOU women placed seventh with a score of 43 points.

• Ribich was named the Men’s Track Athlete of the Meet for his titles in the 800 meters and the mile. He won his second straight title in the mile and led a top-four sweep for the Wolves in a time of 4:11.08. Ribich then won the 800 meters in a meet record time of1:50.83. The latter performance was selected as the Men’s Performance of the Meet.

• Behind Ribich in the mile was junior Dustin Nading in second place in 4:11.72. Sophomore Justin Crosswhite was third 4:14.39 and senior Parker Marson was fourth in 4:14.90. In all, 63 of the Wolves’ men’s points came in the 800 meters, the mile and 3,000 meters.

• Senior Kennedy Rufener was the Wolves’ lone women’s champion, taking the 5,000 meters in a time of 17:18.64. Senior Suzie Van De Grift added a second place finish in the women’s mile with her time of 5:01.85.

• The Wolves took second place in both distance medley relays. The men’s team of Crosswhite, Trey Reed, Marson and Tyler Jones ran a time of 10:13.68 while the women’s team of Van De Grift, Grayson Burke, Olivia Wood and Nicole Maurmann ran a time of 11:52.14.

• The Western Oregon men moved up two spots to No. 10 in this week’s USTFCCCA Division II Computer Rankings.

• The Wolves will conclude the indoor regular season on Saturday with the SPU Final Qualifier in Seattle.

WESTERN WASHINGTON
• Jasmine McMullin’s individual titles in the horizontal jumps led Western Washington to a fifth-place GNAC Championships women’s team finish with 78 points. The men also placed fifth with 76.5 points.

• McMullin was named the Women’s Field Athlete of the Meet after she won both the long jump and triple jump. On Friday, she won the long jump with a mark of 18 feet, 9.75 inches. She then popped a GNAC and meet record to win the triple jump with an NCAA Championships automatic qualifying mark of 41 feet, 7.25 inches for her third title in the event. The record was named the Women’s Performance of the Meet.

• Junior Tupre Wickliff outdueled Alaska Anchorage’s Chris Brake to win the men’s high jump title with a clearance of 6 feet, 7 inches. Both athletes cleared 6-7, but Wickliff cleared on his second attempt to clinch the championship.

• Sophomore Cordell Cummings finished third in the men’s 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.35 seconds.

• The WWU women picked up 20 points in the women’s pole vault, taking third through eighth places. Junior Rachael Roberts led the way with her third place clearance of 11 feet, 6.25 inches.

• The men’s 4x400-meter relay team of Bryant Welch, Reid Lovercamp, Wyatt Longley and Ryan McArthur placed second in a time of 3:20.49.

• Western Washington will look to improve or add to nationals qualifiers on Saturday at the SPU Final Qualifier at the Dempsey Indoor Center.