Washington schools sweep GNAC Athlete of the Week awards...
PORTLAND--Athletes from three of the four Washington Division II schools--Western Washington, Seattle Pacific, and Central Washington--swept the four Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor track and field athlete of the week awards for the week ending December 11th after their performances last Saturday at the Spokane Invitational at The Podium.
Seattle Pacific sophomore David Njeri (Paul Merca photo) earned the Men’s Field Athlete of the Week award after attaining the second-best indoor mark in conference history in the triple jump. Njeri placed second with a mark of 49-0.75/14.95m. Njeri’s mark currently ranks No. 7 in Division II this season.
Western Washington junior Mac Franks was named the Men’s Track Athlete of the Week after he broke the WWU school record in the 800 meters. His second-place time of 1:52.34 surpassed the previous record of 1:53.29 set by Kyler Sager in 2019. His mark is currently number 11 in Division II this season.
Njeri's teammate Annika Esvelt (Paul Merca photo) opened her Seattle Pacific indoor career with a fourth-place finish in the 3,000 meters at the Spokane Invitational. The top non-Division I finisher in the race, her time of 9:57.68 currently ranks 12th in Division II this season.
Central Washington thrower Meagan Smallbeck opened the season with a third-place finish in the weight throw at the Spokane Invitational, finishing with a mark of 55-6 (16.93m). She was the top non-Division I competitor in the event out of 30 total entrants.
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference release is available here.
OSTRANDER LEAVES BROOKS BEASTS...
She said that "This was an incredibly difficult decision because my passion for running and competition is as strong as ever; however, the string of injuries that I experienced throughout the last year and a half has made it evident that my body cannot currently handle the volume and intensity of training that is necessary to be a professional runner."
"Even though I didn’t run as fast or win as many races as I wanted to, I hope that my openness with my struggles can shed light on how honest and respectable of a company Brooks is. They helped me pursue treatment and continued to support me even when injuries sidelined me for most of 18 months. It was ultimately my idea to step away from the team, and I didn’t feel forced into this decision."
Ostrander is currently a volunteer assistant coach at Seattle Pacific University, working with the distance runners.
You can read her post below.
NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference and Brooks Running contributed to this report.
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