Viking men aim for a four-peat as GNACs begin Monday in Spokane...

SPOKANE--Western Washington's men's squad aims to repeat as conference champions as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet opens its two-day run at The Podium on the edge of downtown Spokane Monday.

The Viking men have won three consecutive indoor titles (2019, 2020, 2022) and is coming off a dominating 171.0-point performance last season. WWU is a seven-time champion in the 18-year history of the championship that debuted in 2004. WWU has finished first (7 times) or second (7 times) in 14 of the 18 championships.

MEN'S PREVIEW

For Western Washington, the quest to repeat will come down to its depth. The Vikings have the potential for multiple point-scorers in all but a handful of events and have three events with three top-eight marks entering the meet.

Much of that depth comes in the middle and long distances. Junior Drew Weber (photo courtesy WWU Athletics) heads that depth, leading the conference and ranking 12th in Division II in the 800 meters. He also has an NCAA Championships provisional qualifying time in the mile. Sophomore Will Henry has NCAA provisional qualifying times in the 800 meters and mile while senior Andrew Oslin leads the conference in the 5,000 meters.

Western Washington will also rely on sophomore Nolan Mickenham, who ranks third in the conference in the 200 meters, and sophomore Miller Campbell with his top mark in the weight throw.

Braydon Maier aims to win his first heptathlon for Central Washington since 2018. The senior leads the GNAC in the combined event and the pole vault. Freshman Drew Klein is second to Maier in the pole vault while freshman Isaiah Webster and sophomore Christopher Hines add depth in the horizontal jumps.

Seattle Pacific senior David Njeri looks to defend his title in the triple jump. He owns the top mark in the conference at 48 feet, 5.5 inches (14.77m).

Andrew Boyd and Andrew Schultz are Saint Martin's two best hopes for a top three finish in their individual events. Boyd is ranked number 2 in the conference in the 60 hurdles, while Schultz is number three in the long jump.

WOMEN'S PREVIEW

The path for winning the GNAC women's title goes straight through defending champion Simon Fraser, and more specifically, sprinter Marie-Éloïse Leclair, who leads the conference in the 60, 200 and 400.

Not only that, the Red Leafs have the depth to score significant points in all the running events between 60 meters and the mile.

Western Washington stands to score significant points in the distances, jumps and throws. Sophomore Ila Davis owns the conference’s No. 2 time in the mile and sophomore Sophie Davis is ranked third. Junior Marian Ledesma owns the third-best time in the 800 meters while sophomore Meaera Shannon is third in the 5,000 meters.

In the jumps, junior Jessica Neal is tied for first in the conference in the high jump and junior Matty Lagerwey is second in the long jump. Sophomore Raine Westfall leads the throws with the top mark in the weight throw. Junior Katie Potts and freshman Mara Parks rank second and third, respectively, in the shot put.

Central Washington will be led by junior E’lexis Hollis, who will challenge for the 60-meter title. Her best of 7.48 seconds ranks a close second to Leclair’s 7.45. Junior Lauryn Chandler leads the other straightaway race, the 60-meter hurdles, while freshman Elise Hopper ranks second in the 400 meters. Junior Juliette Williams ranks fourth in both the 60 and 200 meters.

The Wildcats also have the Nos. 2, 3, and 4 point totals in the pentathlon, led by freshman Ellie DeGroot with a score of 3,174 points. Central also enters with the top time this season in the 4x400-meter relay.

Seattle Pacific is led by senior Vanessa Aniteye, who enters with the top time in Division II in the 800 meters at 2:07.53. The distances continue to be a strength for the Falcons with sophomore Libby Michael ranking second in the GNAC in the 3,000 meters and fifth in the mile and freshman Matise Mulch ranking fifth in the 5,000. In the sprints, freshman Hannah Chang is fifth in the GNAC in the 60-meter hurdles.

The Falcons also enter the meet with three of the top four performers in the pole vault. Freshman Kayla Tassara leads that trio with a mark of 11 feet, 11.25 inches while junior Charlie Hill aims to defend her championship.

Saint Martin’s is led by senior Margaret Zilla, who is second in the GNAC in the triple jump, and sophomore Sara Sabra, who ranks second in the 5,000 meters. NCAA cross country qualifier Alauna Carstens ranks third in the 3,000 meters with freshman Alyssa Duncan ranked fourth in the long jump.

Action gets underway Monday at 9 am with the heptathlon 60 dash, and the pentathlon 60 hurdles 15 minutes later.

The first running event is the men's 60 hurdles prelims at 2:30 pm, while the women's weight throw at 2:30 pm is the first field event.

Tuesday's competition starts at 8:30 am with the heptathlon 60 hurdles. The men's mile is the first final on the track at 11 am, while the women's high jump kicks off the field event finals at 9:30 am.

The link to the conference meet preview is available here. The link to live results is here. Media partner RunnerSpace.com ($) will stream both days of the GNAC championship meet.

WEEKEND WRAPUP

In its final campaign before moving over to the Big 12 next year, Brigham Young swept the men's and women's titles at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation indoor championships Saturday at The Podium.

The men's competition was closer than expected, with Long Beach State giving the Cougars all it could handle until the final two running events, when BYU scored 22 points in the 3000, and won the 4 x 400 relay in a facility record 3:09.42 to score a 163-155 decision over the 49ers.

The women's competition was close for most of the two days between BYU and Long Beach State, until the Cougars went 1-2 in the shot put, earned the final six points in the 3000, and won a head-to-head battle with Beach in the 4 x 400 relay.

Best individual marks of the weekend came from Kyle Jankans of Long Beach State, who won the men's high jump at 7-1.75 (2.18m), and Ben Barton of BYU in the heptathlon, scoring 5693 points. Both marks are currently in the top 20 in NCAA Division I.

Complete results of the MPSF championships are available here.

In Pombal, Portugal, Marta Pen Freitas of the Brooks Beasts won both the 1500 and 3000 at the Portuguese national indoor championships Saturday and Sunday.

She ran the 1500m in a time of 4:08.58 and the 3000m in a new personal best time of 8:53.44.

Results of the Portuguese national championships are available here.

NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, and the Brooks Beasts contributed to this report.

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