Monday, May 1, 2023

NAMPA, Idaho – Western Oregon senior Jenelle Hurley charged out to the lead in the heptathlon while Wolves senior JJ Walker held his own to lead the decathlon after day one of the GNAC Combined Events Championships on Monday at the Bohner Track on the campus of Northwest Nazarene University.

The runner-up in the event last year, Hurley won the high jump and placed third in the 200 meters to take the heptathlon lead with a score of 2,859 points. Teammate Maliyah Thompson is just 25 points back in second place with a score of 2,834 points. Western Washington junior Matty Lagerwey is less than 100 points behind in third place with a score of 2,762 points.

After opening with a sixth-place finish in the opening event, the 100-meter hurdles, Hurley won her specialty event with a clearance of 5 feet, 3.25 inches. A seventh-place finish in the shot put was not enough to knock Hurley out of the lead, which she strengthened with a third-place finish in the 200 meters in a time of 26.11 seconds.

Thompson was the winner in the final event of the day, taking the 200 meters in 25.24 seconds. She opened the day with a second-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.61 seconds. Lagerwey’s day was highlighted by a second-place finish in the shot put with a mark of 34 feet, 3.5 inches.

Seattle Pacific freshman Hannah Chang won the 100-meter hurdles in a time of 14.53 seconds. Western Oregon freshman Amariyah Clay won the shot put with a mark of 34 feet, 9 inches.

In the decathlon, Walker won the long jump and placed in the top three in three of the five first-day events to lead with a score of 3,548 points. Defending champion Steven Schmidt of Northwest Nazarene is 39 points back in second place with a score of 3,509 points while Western Oregon sophomore Gabe Burchfield is third with 3,450 points.

Walker opened the day with a third-place finish in the 100 meters before winning the second event, the long jump, with a mark of 22 feet, 11.25 inches. After fifth-place finishes in the shot put and high jump, Walker closed the day with a second-place finish in the 400 meters in a time of 51.41 seconds.

The individual performance of the day, however, belonged to Schmidt who won the high jump with a clearance of 7 feet, 0.5 inches. The mark not only reset his conference decathlon record set last year, but also made him just the third jumper in GNAC history to clear seven feet outdoors. Schmidt is tied with Saint Martin’s Tyler Cronk for No. 2 on the GNAC all-time list and is tied for third in Division II this season.

Schmidt had just one other top-three finish on the day, placing third in the shot put with a mark of 39 feet, 6.75 inches.

Western Washington sophomore Ryan Kenny won the 100 meters in a time of 11.23 seconds. Saint Martin’s junior Andrew Boyd won the shot put with a mark of 42 feet, 3.25 inches and Vikings freshman Austin Seals won the 400 meters in 51.31 seconds.

The GNAC Combined Events finish on Tuesday with events beginning at 11 a.m. (MDT). Heptathlon events include the long jump, javelin and 800 meters. Decathlon events include the 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 meters.