Wednesday, March 30, 2022

PORTLAND, Ore. – The conference’s two record-setting performers have been selected as the top athletes of the season as Simon Fraser junior Aaron Ahl and senior Alison Andrews-Paul have been named the 2021-22 GNAC Indoor Track and Field Athletes of the Year.

Ahl was selected by coaches as the Men’s Athlete of the Year in a season where he set the GNAC record in the mile and ran some of the fastest times in Division II history in the distances. Ahl set the conference record in the mile with a time of 3:57.95 at the John Thomas Terrier Classic in January. He is the second athlete in GNAC history to run under four minutes for the mile in a time that is the second-fastest in Division II history. His season-best of 7:53.89 in the 3,000 meters is No. 2 on the GNAC all-time list and the third-fastest in Division II history.

Ahl won the GNAC Championships in the mile and 3,000 meters, setting meet records in the process. He was named the Men’s Track Athlete of the Meet and his winning mile in 4:01.78 was selected as the Men’s Performance of the Meet. He went on to finish fourth in the 3,000 meters at the NCAA Championships to earn All-American honors. Ahl also earned an All-American trophy with SFU’s second-place distance medley relay team, which ran a GNAC record time of 9:36.05.

Andrews-Paul was selected as the Women’s Athlete of the Year after she won the national championship in the 800 meters. Her time of 2:04.04 at the NCAA Championships not only broke the GNAC record but set the meet record and the facility record at the Plaster Center at Pittsburg State. The time is the third-fastest in Division II history. Andrews-Paul brought home a total of three All-American trophies, running a leg on SFU’s 4x400-meter relay and DMR teams that placed fourth.

At the GNAC Championships, Andrews-Paul won the 800-meter title in a meet-record time of 2:05.09, which earned her Women’s Performance of the Meet honors. She also ran legs on the conference champion 4x400-meter relay and DMR teams. At the John Thomas Terrier Classic, Andrews-Paul ran the fastest time in Division II history in the 1,000 meters, clocking a time of 2:44.54.

Western Washington’s Beau Sheeran was named the Men’s Newcomer of the Year and Seattle Pacific’s Charlie Hill earned Women’s Newcomer of the Year honors. Sheeran, a transfer from Washington State, won the GNAC Championships in the high jump with a clearance of 6 feet, 10.75 inches, which set the WWU school record and ranked No. 11 in Division II this season. The mark also ranks No. 3 on the GNAC all-time list. Sheeran went on to tie for 14th place at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Hill, a transfer from Clackamas Community College, was the surprise winner of the pole vault at the GNAC Championships. She won the event with a mark of 12 feet, 0.75 inches, which was her first-ever clearance over 12 feet. It was also the best mark in the conference this season.

A pair of distance standouts, Seattle Pacific’s Annika Esvelt and Alaska Anchorage’s Coleman Nash, earned the conference’s Freshman of the Year awards. Esvelt was named the GNAC Championships Women’s Track Athlete of the Meet after she swept the titles in both the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. She went on to finish eighth at the NCAA Championships in the 5,000 meters, earning All-American honors. Her season-best of 16:31.12 in the 5,000 meters is No. 7 on the GNAC all-time list while her best of 9:38.43 in the 3,000 meters is ninth on the all-time list.

Nash was the runner-up at the GNAC Championships in both the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters. He finished second to Ahl in the 3,000 meters and second to Western Washington’s Kevin McDermott in the 5,000 meters. Nash’s season-best times of 8:16.42 in the 3,000 meters and 14:29.18 in the 5,000 meters were NCAA Championships provisional qualifying times.

The coaches of the two team champions earned the Coach of the Year awards. Western Washington’s Pee Wee Halsell earned the Men’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year award for the seventh time and for the third consecutive season. Halsell led the Vikings to their third straight championship with a score of 171 points, 61 points ahead of second-place Simon Fraser. Halsell and his staff coached WWU athletes to six individual titles and 11 top-three finishes.

Simon Fraser’s Brit Townsend was named the Women’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year for the first time since 2017 after she led her team to the program’s first indoor conference title. Simon Fraser won with a score of 124 points, nine points ahead of second-place Western Oregon, buoyed by seven individual champions and 11 top-three finishes. Simon Fraser went on to place 12th at the NCAA Championships, the team’s highest finish since 2014.

2021-22 GNAC INDOOR TRACK & FIELD SPECIAL AWARDS
MEN
Athlete of the Year: Aaron Ahl, Simon Fraser
Coach of the Year: Pee Wee Halsell, Western Washington
Freshman of the Year: Coleman Nash, Alaska Anchorage
Newcomer of the Year: Beau Sheeran, Western Washington

WOMEN
Athlete of the Year: Alison Andrews-Paul, Simon Fraser
Coach of the Year: Brit Townsend, Simon Fraser
Freshman of the Year: Annika Esvelt, Seattle Pacific
Newcomer of the Year: Charlie Hill, Seattle Pacific