Viking squads lead after day 1 of the GNACs in Spokane; UW men up nine spots in latest USTFCCCA index...

SPOKANE--After six events in the women's team competition, Western Washington jumped out to an early lead at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor track & field championships Monday at The Podium. scoring 70 points, with Central Washington third at 29, defending champion Seattle Pacific fourth with 20 points, and Saint Martin's sixth with 11 points.

In the men's competition, Western Washington, the defending team champs head into day two with the early lead, as the Vikings have a 49-35 advantage over Western Oregon after five scored events.

Seattle Pacific stands sixth with 13 points, while Central Washington has 11.5 points in seventh, and Saint Martin's is in ninth with 3 points. 

On the track, Annika Esvelt (Paul Merca photo) of Seattle Pacific won the 5000 in 17:31.71, breaking away from Western Oregon's Caitlin Heldt (17:46.69) after 3000 meters. Brook Wedin of Western Washington was third in 18:29.50.

Aliyah Dawkins and Matty Lagerway of Western Washington finished 2-3 in the pentathlon, scoring 3340 and 3138 points, respectively.

Dawkins jumped to an early lead, winning the 60 hurdles and high jump, but was caught by winner Jenelle Hurley in the 800, as she finished third in 2:33.05, while Dawkins was eighth in 2:46.84.

After finishing second in the pentathlon, Dawkins came back to win the high jump with a second attempt clearance at 5-5.75 (1.67m), with teammate Jessica Neal third at 5-3.75 (1.62m).

In other field event finals, Peace Igbonagwam of Seattle Pacific successfully defended her 2020 indoor long jump title, jumping 18-1 (5.51m), with Lagerway third at 18-8.75 (5.40m).

Central Washington's Meagan Smallbeck won the women's weight throw with a mark of 56-2 (17.12m), while teammate Mercedes Pesina was fifth at 49-0.25 (14.94m).

Raine Westfall (51-3.75/15.64m), Katie Potts (50-10.25/15.50m) and Mattison Crook (46-4.75/14.14m) of Western Washington finished 3-4-6 in the weight.

Kacey Provo and Cooper Cummings of Western Washington went 1-3 in the pole vault, with Provo clearing 15-3 (4.65m), and Cummings 14-7.25 (4.45m).

Ethan Sterkel of Western Washington dominated the men's long jump, winning with a best of 23-10 (7.26m).

Such was his dominance that any of his jumps was good enough to take the win.

Seattle Pacific's David Njeri was third with a best of 22-5.25 (6.84m).

Western Washington earned 16 points in the 5000, as Kevin McDermott won the race in 14:52.36, while Kaleb Korta (15:08.20) and Jalen Javurek (15:17.17) finished 6th and 7th.

After four events in the heptathlon, Ryan Kenny of Western Washington has a five-point lead over Steven Schmidt of Northwest Nazarene, with Kenny scoring 2652 to Schmidt's 2647.

Kenny won the opening 60 dash in 7.28, while Schmidt got a win in the high jump, clearing 6=8.75 (2.05m).

Tuesday's events include finals in the men's high jump, women's pole vault, triple jumps and shot puts, plus all running events from 60 meters to 3000, and both 4 x 400 relays.

Day 1 results from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet is available here.

Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will live stream Tuesday's conclusion starting at 9:30 am.

UW MEN ROCKET NINE SPOTS TO NUMBER 14 IN LATEST USTFCCCA RANKING INDEX...

The University of Washington men's indoor track & field team rocketed nine spots to number 14 in the latest USTFCCCA Division I ranking index released Monday.

The Huskies received a massive boost after the team of Luke Houser, Anthony Smith, Cass Elliott, and Brian Fay ran an NCAA leading time of 9:21.10 to win the distance medley relay at the Arkansas Qualifier on Friday in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The mark set a new school record and is the fourth-fastest time in NCAA history, putting UW as the No. 3 all-time performers, behind Oregon and Ole Miss.

It also shattered Washington's previous record of 9:27.19, which was set by a 2016 squad that took second at the NCAA Indoor meet.

Also at Arkansas, the Huskies got some ranking points from Isaac Green's (Paul Merca photo) 7:49.74 run in the 3000, which is the second fastest time in school history.

After last weekend's meets, the top five men's teams in the country are in order: Arkansas, North Carolina A&T, Texas, Georgia, and Texas Tech.

Pac-12 schools in the national top 25 include number 16 Oregon, number 20 USC, and number 24 Arizona State.

The Washington women's team dropped to number 15 in the latest ranking index, despite moving up to number 3 on the national list in the distance medley relay.

The team of Madison Heisterman, Carley Thomas, Anna Gibson and Allie Schadler ran 11:04.73 at the JDL DMR Invitational in Winston-Salem, North Carolina last Friday.

Everyone who competed at the JDL track received a time adjustment for ranking purposes due to the fact that the JDL facility is a 200-meter flat oval, so for ranking purposes, the Huskies are credited with an adjusted time of 10:57.69.

The top five women's teams in Division I are in order: Texas, Florida, Arkansas, LSU, and Kentucky.

Top-25 teams from the Pac-12 include number 14 Oregon, number 18 USC, and number 20 Colorado.

Washington closes the home indoor season Friday and Saturday at the Dempsey with the Pac-12 Invitational meet.

The USTFCCCA release is available here.

NOTE: Spokane Sports, the sports information office of the University of Washington, USTFCCCA, and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference contributed to this report.

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