Alex Donigian & Mikel Smith honored by GNAC; Indoor action heats up in Palouse with meets at WSU & Idaho...

The Great Northwest Athletic Conference named Western Washington’s Alex Donigian as one of its two track athletes of the week, and named Mikel Smith of Saint Martin’s as its field event athlete of the week for performances last weekend at the UW Indoor Preview.

Donigian set GNAC records in both the 60 meters and 200 meters at the University of Washington Indoor Preview, qualifying automatically for the NCAA Division II national meet in the latter event with a time of 6.72.  That time ranks second nationally.  In the 200 he ran a time of 21.67 erasing the longest standing GNAC record of 21.77 by Mike Hinshaw of  Western Oregon in 2002.  Donigian’s time ranks eighth In NCAA Division II.

Smith high jumped 7-0.5 (2.15m) at UW becoming the first athlete in GNAC history to clear the seven-foot mark indoor or outdoor.  The previous GNAC indoor record was 6-10.25 (2.09m) by Brett Watson of Western Washington last year.

THIS WEEK ON THE TRACK

All of the indoor track & field action involving Washington’s Division I and II schools occurs in the Palouse region beginning on Friday, as Washington State hosts the 13th annual WSU Indoor Open at their indoor facility, while eight miles away, the University of Idaho hosts the Idaho Collegiate meet.

Friday’s Idaho Collegiate meet at the Kibbie Dome features teams from Eastern Washington, Gonzaga and Central Washington, while Washington State’s features several small schools, and Saint Martin’s from the GNAC.

The WSU Indoor Open marks the home debut for the new Cougar coaching staff led by head coach Wayne Phipps, formerly the head coach at the University of Idaho.

According to releases posted by the participating schools, many of their athletes who were not able to compete at last week’s UW Indoor Preview meet in Seattle will get their opportunity to compete in this weekend’s meets.

Here is the release from Washington State previewing the meet.

Here are releases from Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, Central Washington, and Saint Martin’s (click on the name of the school)...

Track & Field News magazine has its early season lists available.  You can access the national lists here.

UPDATE (9:20 AM, 1/23) Here are the start lists for Friday's Idaho Collegiate, and Saturday's WSU Indoor Open (click on the link).

NOTE:  The Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and the sports information offices of the University of Idaho, Washington State University, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Western Washington, Central Washington, and Saint Martin's contributed to this report.