Central's Drew Klein and Ellie DeGroot both finish second at GNAC Combined Events...
ELLENSBURG--Central Washington's Drew Klein (CWU Athletics photo), who started day two of the decathlon at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Combined Events championship in third place, won two events, and finished second in two others, but could not quite catch first day leader Anders Larsen of Alaska Anchorage.
Larsen won the GNAC decathlon with a final score of 6969, a new personal best, while Klein fell 61 points short with a final score of 6908, also a personal best.
Central Washington's Josh Boast, who was second entering Tuesday, finished third with a final score of 6496 points, also a personal best.
Central's David Brown won the 110 hurdles in 14.52, while Klein and Boast went 2-3 in 14.60 and 14.79. Larsen stayed close, finishing fourth in 14.87.
Klein, a two-time NCAA D2 indoor heptathlon qualifier, then proceeded to win the next two events, the discus, and the pole vault, throwing a personal best 126-6 (38.55m), and clearing 14-0 (4.27m).
Klein, a 16-foot vaulter, opened at his winning height of 14-0 (4.27m), then missed all three attempts at 14-8 (4.47m), which could have netted him an additional 58 points.
Larsen cleared 12-8.25 (3.87m), as Klein made up 112 points in the vault to cut Larsen's lead to 115 points.
Klein finished second in the javelin with a throw of 164-3 (50.08m), while Larsen was third at 154-6 (47.10m), to cut the deficit to 71 points entering the 1500.
Klein, who entered the day with a 4:45.73 personal best, had to run at least 12 seconds faster than Larsen in the 1500 to overtake Larsen.
Klein ran 5:02.94, while Larsen ran 5:04.73 to hold on for the win with 6969 to Klein's 6908.
Boast finished third at 6496. Kaden Miller of Western Washington was fifth at 6181, with teammate Cody Redford sixth at 6128.
Central's Matthew Bender was seventh at 5778, while fellow Wildcat David Brown was eighth at 5585 points.
Larsen moves to tenth on the NCAA Division II descending order list, while Boast stands at number 12 on the list, with most of the D2 conferences holding their championships either this weekend or next weekend.
In the heptathlon, Alaska Anchorage's Vivien Liessfeld, who entered the second day with a 23-point deficit over Central Washington's Ellie DeGroot, won both the long jump and javelin, and withstood a late charge by both DeGroot and her Wildcat teammate Carley Huber to win the event.
Liessfeld, the conference leader in the long jump this season at 20-2.5 (6.16m), came close to the 6-meter mark, jumping 19-6 (5.94m), while DeGroot only managed 16-5.75 (5.02m).
Huber finished third in the long jump with a best of 17-11 (5.46m).
Liessfeld then threw a personal best 125-3 (38.18m) to win the javelin, while DeGroot chipped away at her lead by finishing third with a personal best 117-2 (35.73m) on her third attempt after fouling he first two throws.
Huber finished seventh at 103-1 (31.43m).
In the heptathlon's final event, Huber won in 2:19.32, with DeGroot third in 2:24.32. Liessfeld ran 2:44.31, which was enough to secure the victory.
Liessfeld finished with 4999 points, while DeGroot scored 4952, and Huber 4844.
Western Washington's Nicole Avery was fourth at 4534.
DeGroot's mark currently puts her at number 23 on the NCAA D2 descending order list, while Liessfeld moves up to 16.
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet resumes Monday in Ellensburg.
USTFCCCA RATING INDEX HAS WASHINGTON WOMEN AND WESTERN MEN IN TOP 25 AFTER LAST WEEKEND...
The University of Washington women, who competed at the Penn Relays last weekend, dropped three spots from last week to come in at number 21 in the latest USTFCCCA Division I National Track and Field Rating Index released Tuesday.
With only two athletes competing in individual events at Penn, and the Huskies not competing in any relays that factor into the rating index, there were no new top 20 marks recorded.
The nation's top five women's teams in D1 are in order: Georgia, South Carolina, BYU, LSU and Florida.
Big Ten teams in the top 25 include number 8 Nebraska, number 10 Illinois, number 15 USC, and number 22 Minnesota.
The Washington men remain outside the national top 25 at 28. At Penn, they had no athletes compete in individual events.
The nation's top five men's teams are in order: Arkansas, LSU, Georgia, Texas A&M, and Oregon.
Big Ten teams in the top 25 include number 8 USC, number 9 Nebraska, number 12 Minnesota, and number 21 Penn State.
In Division II, Western Washington maintained its hold on the number 17 position nationally. The Vikings are the only Great Northwest Athletic Conference team ranked.
Western's Calvin Gutierrez in the hammer recorded the Vikings' only national top 20 mark at Friday's Pee Wee Halsell Invitational, throwing 210-0 (64.03m), currently the number 10 mark in the nation.
Grand Valley State, Pittsburg State, Minnesota State, Colorado School of Mines, and West Texas A&M are the nation's top five men's teams.
The Western Washington women's team is just barely out of the top 25, sitting at number 26. They're the highest ranked team in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
West Texas A&M, Pittsburg State, Grand Valley State, Colorado School of Mines and Missouri Southern are the nation's top five D2 women's teams.
NOTE: The USTFCCCA and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference contributed to this report.
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