SPU's Ali Worthen leads at the break of GNAC heptathlon...
MONMOUTH, Oregon--After four events, Seattle Pacific's Ali Worthen (above/photo courtesy GNAC), the current NCAA Division II leader this season in the heptathlon, currently leads the competition after Monday's first day of the GNAC multi-event championship.
Worthen, a redshirt senior from Coos Bay, Oregon, set a heptathlon meet record in the 100 hurdles and also bettered the old meet record in the 200 in scoring 3,224 points in the first four events of the seven-event competition.
She ran the hurdles race in a time of 14.17 breaking her own meet record of 14.30. Her time of 25.09 in the 200 bettered the old standard of 25.39 though Alaska Anchorage's Grace Morgan, who ended the day in 10th place with 2,235 points, claimed the new record with a time of 24.78.
Worthen leads UAA's Karolin Anders of Alaska Anchorage by 232 points. Anders netted 2,992, 20 better than SPU's Katy Gross, Anders had the best mark in the shot put (37-8 3/4, 11.50m). Tayler Fettig of Central Washington had the best high jump mark, setting a meet record (5-7 1/4, 1.72m) and is fifth with 2,851 points.
SPU's Maliea Luquin stands 6th at 2646 points, while Western Washington's Emily Stralser is 8th at 2377 points.
In the decathlon, Cody Thomas leads after the first day with 3555, 370 points better than Andrew Venema of Central Washington, who is in a tight battle with Eric Gaines, as Gaines is only two points behind at the break.
Michael Holland of Saint Martin's is fourth with 2795, and Dylan Gordon of Western Washington stands sixth at the break with 2503. Seattle Pacific's Nate Johnson was forced to withdraw after popping his hamstring in the 100 meters, the decathlon's opening event.
In tracksuperfan.com's first annual All-Dual meet team, Washington's Mel Lawrence and Megan Goethals, along with Washington State's Caroline Austin were selected to the squad based on their excellence, versatility and/or ability to double (or triple or quadruple) at a high level.
The athletes named to the squad are available here.
tracksuperfan.com will release its final dual-meet rankings for both men and women shortly.
Finally, the USTFCCCA released its national Division I computer rankings, and Washington's women's team has dropped slightly to # 22 from #19 last week.
Texas A&M is the country's #1 team, followed by Kansas and Florida. Arizona is the top Pac-12 team at #5.
On the men's side, Florida, Texas A&M, and Florida State are the country's top three teams, with Oregon the top team from the Pac-12 at #5.
NOTE: The GNAC, USTFCCCA, and tracksuperfan.com contributed to this report.
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