Thursday, June 8, 2023

PORTLAND, Ore. – The GNAC’s 2022 Outdoor Track and Field Freshmen of the Year are wasting little time climbing up the conference’s awards ladder.

After banner seasons that yielded school and conference records and All-American honors, Simon Fraser sophomore Marie-Éloïse Leclair and Northwest Nazarene sophomore Steven Schmidt have been named the GNAC’s 2023 Outdoor Track and Field Athletes of the Year.

Leclair continued her assault on the conference’s records in the women’s 100 and 200 meters. She lowered her own mark in the 100 meters with a time of 11.44 seconds at the GNAC Championships and dropped her record time in the 200 meters to 23.54 seconds at May’s Oxy Invitational. The conference champion and an All-American in both events, Leclair placed third in the 200 meters at the NCAA Division II Championships with a wind-aided time of 23.14 seconds. She placed fifth in the 100 meters with a wind-aided time of 11.22 seconds.

Leclair was named the GNAC Outdoor Championships Women’s Track Athlete of the Meet. She also notched an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying mark in the 400 meters with a time of 54.38 seconds that ranks No. 4 on the GNAC all-time list.

Schmidt won the high jump, pole vault and decathlon at the GNAC Championships and also placed fifth in the javelin and sixth in the 110-meter hurdles. The GNAC Outdoor Championships Field Athlete of the Meet set the conference record with 37 total points scored in the meet. Schmidt went on to finish 10th in the decathlon at the Division II Championships, earning Second Team All-American honors, with an NNU record score of 7,122 points that ranks No. 4 on the GNAC all-time list.

Schmidt’s season-best of 7 feet, 0.5 inches in the high jump at the GNAC Combined Events Championships tied him for No. 2 on the GNAC all-time list while his best of 15 feet, 11 inches, set at April’s BYU Robison Invitational, ranks No. 8 on the GNAC all-time list.

Western Washington junior Marian Ledesma and Western Oregon senior Dayne Gordien were voted by coaches as the conference’s Newcomers of the Year. Ledesma, a transfer from Azusa Pacific, won the 800 meters at the GNAC Outdoor Championships and went on to earn All-American honors with a fourth-place finish at the Division II Championships. Her season-best of 2:08.98, ran at the Bryan Clay Invitational in April, led the GNAC and set the Western Washington record.

Gordien, a transfer from Division I UCLA, won both the shot put and the discus at the GNAC Outdoor Championships. He earned USTFCCCA All-West Region honors in both events. His season-best of 54 feet, 9.5 inches in the shot put at the Oregon Preview was an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying mark and ranks No. 9 on the GNAC all-time list.

Western Washington swept the Freshmen of the Year awards with Ashley Reeck winning the women’s award and Maurice Woodring winning the men’s honor. Reeck finished second at the GNAC Championships in the 1,500 meters, 5,000 meters and the steeplechase. She was responsible for 24 points as the WWU won the conference title. Her season-best of 10:54.82 in the steeplechase was an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying time and ranks No. 6 on the WWU all-time list while her season-best of 4:33.80 in the 1,500 meters is No. 10 on the WWU all-time list.

Woodring won the 400-meter hurdles at the GNAC Championships and also ran legs on the Vikings’ winning 4x100-meter and 4x400-meter relay teams. His season-best time of 52.90 in the 400-meter hurdles, which won the GNAC Championships, was an NCAA Championships provisional qualifier and ranks No. 4 on WWU all-time list and No. 10 on the GNAC all-time list.

Western Washington interim head coach Ben Stensland was the unanimous selection for both the Men’s & Women’s Coach of the Year Awards. Assuming leadership of the program in December following the retirement of longtime head coach Pee Wee Halsell, Stensland led the WWU men to their fourth straight GNAC championship. The Vikings’ 209.5 points was 85 points better than second-place Western Oregon. The women realized their first GNAC championship with a total of 183 points, 23 points ahead of second-place Western Oregon. The Vikings finished the GNAC Championships with 13 conference champions and 36 all-conference awards.