Friday, May 13, 2022

ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Simon Fraser freshman Marie-Éloïse Leclair set a pair of meet records, Western Oregon senior Moana Gianotti repeated as shot put champion and Central Washington senior Avery Fisk defended her discus record in her home facility on day one of the GNAC Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships on Friday at the CWU Recreation Sports Complex.

Leclair lowered the records in the 100 meters and 200 meters in the preliminaries. In the 100 meters, Leclair was the top qualifier in a time of 11.76 seconds that surpassed the previous meet record of 11.81 seconds set by Alaska Anchorage’s Jamie Ashcroft in 2015. About 90 minutes later, Leclair cruised to a time of 24.26 seconds that eclipsed the previous meet record of 24.30 seconds set by Alaska Anchorage’s Grace Morgan in 2013.

Thanks in part to Leclair’s efforts in the sprints, Simon Fraser had top qualifiers in five of the six running event preliminaries on the day. Sophomore Emily Lindsay was the top qualifier in the 400 meters in 55.64 seconds, finishing ahead of three-time champion Vanessa Aniteye of Seattle Pacific (2017-2019) and 2021 champion Tylantiss Atlas of Alaska Anchorage. Aniteye and Atlas qualified second and third, respectively.

Junior Alison Andrews-Paul was the top qualifier in the 800 meters in a time of 2:11.25 as Simon Fraser had four of the eight qualifiers for Saturday’s final. Sophomore Diana Voloshin was the top qualifier in the 100-meter hurdles in 14.40 seconds.

Fisk provided a flair for the dramatic in repeating as discus champion, winning the event on the final throw of the competition with her best of 142 feet, 7 inches. Fisk had held the lead until the fifth round when Western Washington’s Katie Potts took the lead with what became her second-place mark of 139 feet, 1 inch.

The Wildcats also had the top qualifier in the 400-meter hurdles in junior McCall DeChenne, who turned in a time of 1:02.30.

Gianotti was one of three Western Oregon field-event champions on the day, repeating in the shot put with a mark of 45 feet, 3.5 inches. She was over 40 feet on four of her five fair attempts in the competition.

Wolves freshman Jenelle Hurley earned the victory in the long jump with just the third leap over 19 feet by a GNAC athlete this season. Her mark of 19 feet, 5.5 inches moves her to No. 7 on the GNAC all-time list and ranks 25th in Division II this season. Freshman Kaylee Wright won the javelin on her third attempt of the day, a mark of 149 feet, 6 inches.

Northwest Nazarene freshman Kinsey Yenor won the pole vault title with a mark of 11 feet, 11.75 inches. Yenor and Seattle Pacific sophomore Lizzy Daugherty both cleared 11-11.75 and Yenor was awarded the title based on fewest misses.

In the running events, Western Washington freshman Ila Davis won the steeplechase title and all but assured her place at the national meet. Her winning time of 10:31.55 ranks No. 8 on the GNAC all-time list and is No. 9 in Division II this season.

Seattle Pacific sophomore Annika Esvelt cruised to the victory in the women’s 10,000 meters, taking the race by nearly two minutes in a time of 36:32.30. Esvelt also has the conference’s top time in the 5,000 meters, which will be run on Saturday.

Western Washington and Western Oregon are tied for first in the team competition through seven events with 61 points. Northwest Nazarene sits in third place with 38 points and Seattle Pacific is fourth with 31 points. Scores do not include the heptathlon, which was contested last week.

The final day of the GNAC Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championships commences with the triple jump on Saturday at 12:45 p.m. Running events begin at 2:45 p.m. with the 4x100-meter relay. Live results of the meet can be found at GNAC.live.