Contact: Bob Guptill (503-305-8756/www.gnacsports.com)
April 23, 2015
GNAC Multi-Events Monday and Tuesday at Saint Martin’s
THIS WEEK: Thursday – Titan Twilight at Eugene (WOU). Friday UCSD Triton Invitational (SPU). Saturday – Carroll College
Invitational (MSUB); WSU Cougar Invitational (NNU); UCSD Triton
Invitational (SPU); WWU Ralph Vernacchia (CWU, SMU, SPU,
WWU). Monday (April 27) – GNAC Multi-Events at Lacey; Achilles
Cup in Vancouver, B.C. (SFU vs. UBC). Tuesday (April 28) – GNAC
Multi-Events at Lacey.
Seattle Pacific will send athletes to San Diego to compete
at the UC San Diego Triton Invitational. Montana State
Billings will compete in the Carroll College Invitational and
Northwest Nazarene will be in Pullman for the Washington
State Cougar Invitational.
The long weekend begins Thursday with Western Oregon
competing at the Lane College Titan Twilight in Eugene
and concludes with the Achilles Cup (SFU vs. UBC dual)
Monday in Vancouver, B.C.
22 To Compete in GNAC Multi-Events
Twenty-two athletes – 11 men and 11 women – will
compete in the GNAC Multi-Events beginning Monday at
Saint Martin’s University.
37 Qualifying Marks, 4 Records
GNAC athletes had 37 national qualifying performances
including three automatic marks in meets around the West
last week. Four of the performances set conference
records.
The multis are the first event of the 2015 GNAC
Championships. The remainder of the meet will be held
May 8-9 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth.
The multis get underway Monday with the first decathlon
event at 10 a.m. The heptathlon starts 30 minutes later.
Western Washington’s Alex Donigian broke his own record
in the men’s 100 meters at the Mt. SAC Relays with a time
of 10.22. He set the old record of 10.27 earlier this month
in the Texas Relays.
Among the athletes competing will be heptathlon
defending champion Karolin Anders of Alaska Anchorage.
The top seed is UAA’s Rosie Smith who posted a
provisional national qualifying score of 4,613 points last
week at Azusa, Calif.
Viking hurdler Travis Milbrandt also broke his own record
of 14.71 in the 110 hurdles – twice. After running a 14.33
at Mt. SAC, he ran a 14.30 Saturday at Long Beach State.
Justin Peterson of Central Washington is the top seed in
the decathlon with a score of 6,401. That, however, is just
one point better than Northwest Nazarene freshmen
Payton Lewis.
WWU, which was selected as the GNAC Team of the Week,
also got a conference record from Katelyn Steen in the
steeplechase. She ran a 10:13.01, despite falling down
with 3 ½ laps to go.
The multis conclude Tuesday beginning at 9 a.m. with the
sixth event of the decathlon. Tuesday’s heptathlon events
start at 10 a.m.
Donigian and Steen’s marks and a career-best throw of
165-7 by WWU’s Katie Reichert in the javelin were all
automatic marks.
WWU Hosts 34th Ralph Vernacchia Invitational
Seven different GNAC schools posted qualifying marks led
by Alaska Anchorage with 14 (4 men, 10 women).
Western Washington had 10 (6 men, 4 women) and Simon
Fraser had five (3 men, 2 women),
The 34th Western Washington University Ralph Vernacchia
Invitational highlights this week’s track-and-field schedule
in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
The meet gets underway Saturday at Civic Stadium in
Bellingham at 9 a.m.
Seattle Pacific had 3 (3 women), Western Oregon (2 men)
and Central Washington (1 man, 1 woman) had two each
and Saint Martin’s had 1 (1 woman).
Among the teams joining the Vikings in the meet from the
GNAC are Central Washington, Saint Martin’s and Seattle
Pacific.
Following is a list of the qualifiers and where their
performances rank on the GNAC’s All-Time Top 10 lists.
NATIONAL QUALIFYING MARKS: Men: 100 – 1. Alex Donigian,
WWU, 10.22. 800 – 2. +Cameron Proceviat, SFU, 1:49.64; 4.
*Nathan Kipchumba, UAA, 1:50.56; Josh Hanna, WOU, 1:51.62.
1500 – 3. Travis Vugteveen, SFU, 3:47.63; Sam Naffziger, WOU,
3:51.76. 10,000 – 3. Dominik Notz, UAA, 29:26.29; 6. Henry
Also on the schedule are meets in San Diego, Helena,
Eugene, Pullman and Vancouver, B.C.
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