Vikings sweep GNAC indoor titles, powered by Kevin McDermott and distance depth...
SPOKANE--When we talked to Western Washington interim head coach Ben Stensland at the UW Indoor Preview meet last month, he said that partly due to budgetary constraints, the Viking men's and women's track and field programs would take a lower key approach to the indoor season.
After the performance of both squads on the final day of competition at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference indoor track and field championship at The Podium, one can say that their overall performances were not low key, as the Vikings swept both the men's and women's team titles (Loren Orr/GNAC photo).
In the men's competition, the Vikings had a comfortable 187.66 to 132.33 advantage over defending indoor champion Western Oregon, with Central Washington third at 99.
Saint Martin's was eighth with 19, and Seattle Pacific was ninth with 13 points.
On the other hand, the Vikings essentially clinched the meet in the penultimate event, the 3000 meters, scoring 17 points to overtake Central Washington, who finished second with 138 points.
Seattle Pacific was sixth with 56 points, and Saint Martin's was eighth with 36 points.
MEN'S RECAP
McDermott's teammate Samuel Lingwall did the early grunt work for the field, going through the first half mile in approximately 2:03, as the two favorites went past him in about 2:02.
The Viking controlled the race in the second half, winning in 4:06.63, with Correa having to press to get second in 4:07.40.
Just a little over 2 1/2 hours later, McDermott was content to go through the first 1200 of the 3000 in 3:31, before picking it up.
With a lap to go, the race came down to he and teammate Ryan Clough, who had done most of the leading in the second half of the race.
A 59 second 400 salted away the win for McDermott, winning in 8:25.11, with Correa third in 8:27.27, and Clough fourth at 8:27.98.
The victory gave McDermott the historic indoor distance triple, last accomplished by Alaska Anchorage's Micah Chelimo in 2013, as well as the meet's most outstanding performer.
Other highlights:
--Drew Klein of Central Washington won the heptathlon with a final score of 4923 points, with Andrew Boyd of Saint Martin's second with 4534;
--Hunter Flick (8.11) and Jaden Edwards of Western Washington went 1-3 in the finals of the 60 hurdles, while Ryan Greenwalt was second in the 60 dash in 6.83;
--Nolan Mickenham (21.75) Brian Le (48.81) and Jonah Bloom (1:55.95) each picked up third place finishes for the Vikings in the 200, 400 and 800;
--The Western Washington squad of Brian Le, Owen Windrope, Lucas Brenek, and Ryan Greenwalt put the exclamation point on the team title by winning the 4 x 400 relay in 3:17.69;
--In the field, Noah Turner of the Vikings won the shot put at 50-0 (15.24m), while teammates Manu Greenlee and Trent Kibler were part of a 3-way tie for second in the high jump, clearing 6-4.75 (1.95m);
--Central Washington's Isaiah Webster won the triple jump at 47-5.25 (14.46m), while Gabe Menicke of Western was third at 45-11.25 (14.00m).
WOMEN'S RECAP
It was the sprints and jumps of Central Washington against the distance strength of Western Washington, but in the end, the Vikings got enough points from their non-podium (top three) finishers to overtake the Wildcats and win the women's team title.
In one of the most anticipated races of the entire meet, Central's E'lexis Hollis used a strong start to hold off conference leader Marie-Eloise Leclair of Simon Fraser in the 60 meter dash, winning in a GNAC all-time and meet record 7.29 to Leclair's 7.30.
This puts Hollis in a three way tie for the national lead. In Monday's qualifying, Leclair had run an identical 7.30 to hold the conference all-time best.
Leclair turned the tables on Hollis, winning the 200 in an all-time conference best of 23.39 to Hollis' 24.39.
Lauryn Chandler of the Wildcats repeated as GNAC 60 hurdles champion, winning in 8.55.
Central's Elise Hopper won the 400 in 56.55, with Seattle Pacific's Marissa Crane third in 57.23.
Western Washington's Marian Ledesma, the conference leader in the 800, was never in contention, and finished a surprising sixth in 2:17.84. Teammate Emmy Kroontje was second in 2:13.38, while Saint Martin's Alisha Saucedo was third in a personal best 2:13.56.
The Vikings got 16 podium points in the mile with Ila Davis winning in 4:52.81 to Saint Martin's cross country All-American Cassidy Walchak-Sloan's 4:56.10, with WWU's Sophie Wright third at 4:59.09.
While Seattle Pacific's Annika Esvelt won the 3000 in 9:54.80, Davis was second in 9:59.45, and Walchak-Sloan third at 10:01.78. The 3000 essentially clinched the meet for Western, as they picked up points in fourth, sixth, and seventh.
In the final event on the track, Central Washington's team of Juliette Williams, Donna Marie Harris, Ellie DeGroot, and Elise Hopper win the 4 x 400 relay in 3:53.94, and had to hope that Western Washington would finish eighth or worse to get the team title.
The Vikings finished third in 3:51.26.
In the field, Western's Katie Potts (45-0.25/13.72m) and Mara Parks (41-8.5/12.71m) went 2-3 in the shot put, while Brenna Board (41-1-75/12.54m) and Ellie Prazer (38-1.5/11.62m) of Central went 3-4.
Central's Emy Ntekpere (40-4.25/12.30m) and Lauryn McGough (12-10.75/3.93m) each won the triple jump and pole vault, with McGough setting a meet record. Seattle Pacific's Emily Thomason (12-6.75/3.83m) and Lizzy Daugherty (12-2.75/3.73m) went 2-3.
In talking about the performance of both Viking squads, Stensland said, “This is something we talk about right at the beginning of the year and we really accomplished this as a group. We do this together and as a team, and that is what you saw today to win two team trophies."
“There are too many great things that happened over the last two days to call out individually, but you certainly have to recognize what Tunk (Kevin McDermott) did to win the triple crown."
With the team indoor titles, the Vikings have won six straight GNAC men's and women's trophies in a year (outdoor track, cross country, and indoor track).
NOTE: The Great Northwest Athletic Conference, and the sports information office at Western Washington University contributed to this report.
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