SPU's Cai & Benner go 2-3 in GNAC heptathlon, while Central's Landis takes 3rd in decathlon...

NAMPA, Idaho—Seattle Pacific freshmen Scout Cai (left/photo by Paul Merca) and Brooke Benner finished second and third overall at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference heptathlon that concluded Tuesday at the Bohner Track on the campus of Northwest Nazerene University.

Cai finished the two-day competition with a seven-event total score of 4894 points, while Benner finished with a final score of 4579 points.

Karolin Anders of Alaska Anchorage won the conference title with a final score of 5032 points.

Cai started day 2 with a personal best of 17-1.75 (5.23m) in the long jump, then threw the javelin 117-0 (35.66m), then ran the 800 in 2:19.49.

Benner’s marks in day 2 were 16-9.5 (5.12m) in the long jump, 86-1 in the javelin (26.24m), and 2:19.65 in the 800.

Western Washington’s Kaylie Greninger was fourth with a final score of 4570, nine points behind Benner.  HarLee Ortega of Central Washington was fifth with 4558 points, while Ali Anderson of Central Washington finished eighth with 4439 points.

In the decathlon, Central Washington’s Kodiak Landis finished third with a final score of 6677 points, a new school record, while teammate Michael Forster was sixth with a score of 6280 points.

Payton Lewis of Northwest Nazarene, who was third at the break, won the conference championship with a final score of 6815 points.

Landis ran the 110 hurdles in 15.95, then threw the discus 112-2 (34.19m).  In the pole vault, he cleared 13-7.25 (4.15m), then threw the javelin 148-6 (45.27m), before running the 1500 in 4:42.88.

Complete results from the GNAC multi-events competition are available here.

NEWPORT RESIDENT AARON CASTLE OF ARIZONA NAMED PAC-12 FIELD EVENT ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

The Pac-12 Conference announced that Aaron Castle (above/photo courtesy University of Arizona) of Newport in Eastern Washington, who attends the University of Arizona, was named its men’s field event athlete of the week for the week ending April 30th.

Castle threw a new personal best of 19.63 meters (64' 5") in the shot put for first place at Arizona's Duel in the Desert meet against Arizona State on April 29th in Tempe. His throw is the  #9 mark in the country this season.

The other athletes named by the Pac-12 for performances last week include Oregon’s Sam Prakel (men’s track); Oregon’s Alaysha Johnson (women’s track); and, Arizona State’s Maggie Ewen (women’s field)

The Pac-12 release is available here.

NOTE:  The Great Northwest Athletic Conference, the University of Arizona, and the Pac-12 Ccnference contributed to this report.