Vikings win men's title & finish third at GNAC indoor championships; UW men's DMR named USTFCCCA A.O.W...
SPOKANE--As expected, Western Washington didn’t make it close.
The Vikings won six individual events and 11 overall top-three finishes to roll to its third consecutive title at the GNAC Men’s Indoor Track and Field Championships, which concluded Tuesday at The Podium.
Western Washington finished with a total of 171 points and placed 61 points ahead of second-place Simon Fraser, which finished with 110 points. Western Oregon was a close third with 107.33 points. The title was the third straight for WWU after victories in 2019 and 2020 and the seventh in program history.
After receiving three individual victories on Monday, Western Washington added titles from senior Mac Franks (Paul Merca photo) in the 800 meters, senior Ben Malquist in the shot put and senior Beau Sheeran in the high jump.
Franks improved on his No. 7 time on the GNAC all-time list with a time of 1:51.45 and finished just ahead of teammate Drew Weber, who finished in 1:51.63.
Behind Weber, Will Henry of the Vikings was fifth in 1:55.44, and Landon Sturdevant was sixth in 1:55.47 to give Western 21 points in the 800.
Franks accounted for 21 of Western's 171 points, as he finished second in the mile in a school record 4:02.28, and was sixth in the 3000, running 8:30.87.
Malquist picked up his win in the shot put with a mark of 51 feet, 1 inch (15.57m), providing WWU just its second-ever champion in the event. Sheeran improved to No. 3 on the GNAC all-time list with his winning clearance of 6 feet, 10.75 inches (2.10m).
Central Washington finished sixth with 40.5 points, led by Bobby Widmar, who won the 60 in 6.96. Seattle Pacific was seventh with 29 points, led by David Njeri, who added the indoor triple jump title to his outdoor crown, jumping 46-10.25 (14.28m). He also placed seventh in the 60 in 7.15, and was third in the long jump on Monday.
Saint Martin's was ninth with 18 points, most of which came from Andrew Boyd, who was third in the 60 hurdles in 8.52, and fifth in the heptathlon with 4289 points.
The GNAC recap is available here.
VIKING WOMEN FINISH THIRD; SPU'S ESVELT & WWU'S DAWKINS NAMED TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES OF THE MEET...
While Western Washington, Western Oregon & Simon Fraser were separated by four points heading into the 4 x 400 relay, Simon Fraser's three individual champions on their relay squad salted away the meet with a convincing win in 3:47.07, with Seattle Pacific third in 3:59.14, and Western Washington sixth in 4:03.02.
Simon Fraser finished with a team score of 124 points, leading second-place Western Oregon at 115 and third-place Western Washington at 113. Central Washington (106) and Seattle Pacific (75) rounded out the top five.
Saint Martin's finished eighth with 30 points.
The Track Athlete of the Meet award went to Seattle Pacific’s Annika Esvelt, who swept the 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter races in dominant fashion. Esvelt won the 5,000 on Monday by 15 seconds and repeated that margin of victory in Tuesday’s 3,000. It initially looked like a two-horse race between Esvelt and SFU’s Olivia Willett, but Esvelt steadily pulled away over the last 1,000 meters and crossed in 9:50.84, well ahead of Willett’s 10:05.61.
Western Washington’s Aliyah Dawkins won the Field Athlete of the Meet award. All of Dawkins’ competition came on Monday, when she won the high jump with a leap of 5 feet, 5.75 inches (1.67m), finished second in the pentathlon with 3,340 points and finished fifth in the long jump by leaping 17-2.75 (5.25m).
Central Washington's E'lexis Hollis led a 1-3-4 finish in the 60 dash finals, running 7.58, which ranks third in conference history. CWU’s Makenna Hansen completed the podium in 7.66, while Juliette Williams was fourth in 7.77.
Charlie Hill earned the pole vault victory for Seattle Pacific. Hill was the only one of five remaining vaulters to clear 12 feet, 0.75 inches (3.68m), doing so on her first attempt.
Lizzy Daugherty and Madison Licari of Seattle Pacific were third and fifth, both clearing 11-7 (3.53m).
The GNAC women's recap is available here.
Complete results of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet are available here.
HUSKY MEN'S DMR NAMED USTFCCCA ATHLETES OF THE WEEK...
The Huskies (photo courtesy UW Athletics) led an all-out assault on the record book on Friday night at the Arkansas Qualifier, as they finished first in a race that saw the top-3 teams crack the all-time top-5 performers and each of teams who competed carve their programs into the all-time top-10 performance list.
Washington broke the tape in 9:21.10, good enough to become the third-fastest team in collegiate history with the fourth-fastest performance. Luke Houser (2:52.90), Anthony Smith (46.72), Cass Elliott (1:48.68) and Brian Fay (3:52.81) combined for that blistering effort.
Behind the Huskies, who won by more than one second, Alabama (9:22.43), Oklahoma State (9:22.70), Iowa State (9:24.07) and Arkansas (9:24.56) crossed the finish line in order. Those are now the fifth-, sixth-, eighth- and tenth-fastest performances in collegiate history.
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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