Monday, February 20, 2023
SPOKANE, Wash. – Northwest Nazarene sophomore Steven Schmidt led a strong first day for the Nighthawks, opening the 2023 Men’s GNAC Indoor Track & Field Championships with a record-setting leap in one event and an event winning-jump in another.
Schmidt began the day for the Nighthawks by competing in the first four events of the heptathlon. He took first place in the long jump with a leap of 21 feet, 7.5 inches, first place in the shot put with a throw of 41 feet, 1 inch, first place in the high jump with a leap of 7 feet, 0.25 inches and second place in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.27 seconds.
Schmidt’s mark in the heptathlon high jump reset his own record at The Podium and is tied for seventh in Division II this season. He heads into the second day of the meet leading the heptathlon with 3,079 points, 401 points clear of Central Washington senior Braydon Maier in second place with 2,678 points.
Schmidt followed up that by winning the men’s long jump with a season-best leap of 22 feet, 10.75 inches before taking second place in the open high jump after retiring as part of a one-two finish in the event with fellow sophomore teammate Gerohm Rihari, who cleared a height of 6 feet, 6.25 inches.
Along with Schmidt and Rihari, the Nighthawks climbed to the top of the leaderboard on day one with a win from senior Dylan Hendry in the men’s weight throw with a personal record of 57 feet, 6.5 inches. His mark was a little over two feet clear of second-place Miller Campbell of Western Washington who threw 55 feet, 6.25 inches.
On the track, the north reigned supreme on day one with Alaska Anchorage sophomore Coleman Nash setting a meet record by winning the 5,000 meters in a time of 14:17.09, surpassing the previous mark of 14:36.06 set UAA’s Dominik Notz in 2016. He wasn’t the only one a on record-setting pace as Simon Fraser sophomore Sebastian Brinkman also ran under the previous meet record and finished with a time of 14:23.49.
Simon Fraser ended the day on a high note, winning the men’s distance medley relay with a team consisting of sophomores Aiden Good, Felix Allen, Jordan Schmidt and junior Charlie Dannatt in a time of 10:12.48. Western Oregon finished runner-up just under two seconds behind with a time of 10:14.37 courtesy of sophomore Emmett Klus, junior Deshaun Stevens, sophomore Wyatt Smith and sophomore Easton Pomranky.
In the preliminary rounds, Northwest Nazarene junior Brayden Dufree set the top qualifying time in the 60 meters with a season-best time of 6.91 seconds. Simon Fraser sophomore Jesaiah Penson-McCoy set the leading qualifying time in the 200 meters with a season-best time of 21.78 seconds to move into No. 10 on the GNAC all-time list. In the 400 meters, Western Washington junior Drew Weber led the qualifiers with a time of 1:51.08 while in the 60-meter hurdles, Montana State Billings junior Bradley Graves who set the top qualifying time, finishing in a season-best 8.34 seconds to set a school record.
On the strength of Schmidt’s impressive first day, Northwest Nazarene leads the field with 49 points, five points ahead of Western Washington’s second-place total of 44 points. Western Washington sits in third place with 27 points.
The GNAC Indoor Track and Field Championships conclude on Tuesday. The heptathlon commences at 8:30 a.m. Field events begin at 10:10 a.m. with the triple jump and running events begin with the mile at 11 a.m.