Weekend roundup: Summary of Big Sky, Great West and GNAC championship meets...

While we're waiting for things to get underway at day 2 of the Pac-12 track & field championships from Eugene, here's a quick recap of what's happened with other conference meets:

In Bozeman, Montana at the Big Sky championships, Eastern Washington's Keisa Monterola won the pole vault with a leap of 13-7 1/4 (4.15m), with teammate Robin Taylor finishing second at the same height.

Shene Davis broke the EWU school record in the triple jump, leaping 40-6 1/4 (12.35m) in finishing second. 2009 Big Sky champ Michelle Coombs was second in the javelin at 151-6 (46.18m).

Eastern finished eighth at 62 points as Sacramento State repeated as women's team champs.

On the men’s side, Kyle King continued to bring in honors, as his third-place finish in the 5,000 (14:54.24) earned him all-conference status a day after he won the 10,000.

Eastern's full release is available here.

At the Great West championships in Humble, Texas, SeattleU's 4 x 100 meter relay squad won the title in 41.67 with a team of Eric Patterson-Floyd, Austin Thummel-Gravitt, Zachary Schlachter & Zach Stanfield.

Stanfield set two individual school records during the afternoon, finishing third in both the 100 meter dash with a time of 10.59 seconds and in the 200 meter dash with a mark of 21.36 seconds.

The postponement of the 3000 meter steeplechase did not seem to affect either Seattle U runner. First, Hannah Mittelstaedt finished in second place in the women's steeplechase with a time of 11:22.23. Kelton Sears followed with his own second place finish in the men's steeplechase with a personal-best time of 9:30.75, less than two seconds off the school record.

"The team as a whole brought a focus and level of energy unlike what we've brought in the past. This resulted in seven school records (over the weekend), many podium appearances, and stronger performances all around than we've put out before," Seattle U head coach Trisha Steidl said.

Less than 48 hours after winning the 10,000 meter run, Erik Barkhaus (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) finished third in the 5000 meter run with a time of 15:21.09, with Matthew McClement (Bellingham, Wash.) close behind him in fifth place in 15;24.07.

SeattleU's release is available here.

At the GNAC championships in Monmouth, Oregon, SPU won just four of 21 events – McKayla Fricker in the 800 meters, the 4x100 and 4x400 relays on Saturday, and Ali Worthen (above/photo by Paul Merca) in the heptathlon last week – and scored its other 148 points on depth to come from behind and edge Alaska Anchorage for the Falcons' third straight Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's track and field title.

Seattle Pacific won its third straight title and for the fifth time in six years with 188 points, five more than Alaska Anchorage (183). Western Washington was third at 137 1/2 points.

Ali Worthen of the Falcons, a senior from Coos Bay, Oregon, was selected as the women's outstanding performer of the meet.

In the men's competition, Michael Hoffman won the hammer for the third straight year and Shane Gruger placed first in the 200 meters and ran the anchor leg on the winning 4x100 relay as Western Washington University captured its second men's title in three years and third overall.

The Vikings dominated the men's division with a winning point total of 205, 78-1/2 more than second-place and host Western Oregon (126-1/2) in the nine-team field.

The results and recap of the meet are available here.

NOTE: The GNAC, and the sports information offices of Seattle University, Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, and Eastern Washington contributed to this report.

Comments