Tuesday, May 19, 2015

PORTLAND, Ore. -   Simon Fraser’s Lindsey Butterworth will be going for a sweep of the indoor-outdoor 800 meter national titles and Katelyn Steen and Jennifer Johnson will be looking for “trifectas” this weekend at the 2015 NCAA Division II national track and field meet at Allendale, Mich.

Both Western Washington’s Steen and SFU’s Johnson have already earned All-American honors this school year in cross country and indoor track.

Butterworth won the indoor 800 title in February at Birmingham, Ala., in a time of 2:08.44.  She comes into the outdoor meet with the nation’s best Division II time of 2:04.11.

Steen is the No. 2 seed in the steeplechase  (10:13.01) and the No. 8 seed in the 5,000 and thus has two chances to earn All-American honors in her third sport this school year.

In the fall, she finished fifth in the NCAA National Cross Country meet at Louisville, Kent.  She placed  fourth in the indoor 5K at Birmingham.

Earlier this year Johnson also earned All-American honors in cross country, placing 30th and indoor track, finishing third in the 3,000.  She comes in as the fourth seed in the 5K with a time of 16:26.59.

The three are among 21 women who will compete at Allendale.   

Four will compete in two events – Steen, sprinter Jamie Ashcroft of Alaska Anchorage (100, 200) and distance runners Shannon Porter of Saint Martin’s and Amy Johnston of Alaska Anchorage, who will both run the 5K and 10K.

Three of the women are returning outdoor All-Americans.  Steen finished fourth last year in the steeplechase in a time of 10:22.66.

Alaska Anchorage’s Karolin Anders placed second a year ago in the heptathlon with 5,375 points. 

Western Washington javelin thrower Katie Reichert was second in 2014 in the javelin with a mark of 165-2.  She comes in as the No. 3 seed.

Seventeen men from GNAC schools will also compete at Allendale led by three who have Top 3 seeds. 

Franz Burghagen of Alaska Anchorage has the second best season mark in the javelin (224-10).  UAA’s Dominik Notz is the No. 2 seed in the 10,000 (29:26.29).  Alex Donigian of Western Washington, who placed fifth a year ago in the 100, is the No. 3 seed in the 100 (10.27).

Notz is the lone male to double in two individual events.  He’s also the fourth seed in the 5,000 with a best of 14:07.05.

Following is time schedule for GNAC athletes:

WOMEN (All Times Eastern)

Thursday: 11 a.m. - Heptathlon (8. Karolin Anders, UAA, 5162). 2 p.m. - Pole Vault (12. McKenna Emmert, CWU, 3.83 – 12-6 ¾). 5:10 p.m. – 1500 Prelims (11. Haley O’Connor, WWU, 4:29.71; 14. Beatrice Decker, UAA, 4:30.91). 6:10 p.m. – 100 Prelims (13. Jamie Ashcroft, UAA, 11.73). 6:40 p.m. – Steeplechase Prelims (2. Katelyn Steen, WWU, 10:13.01; 12. Dani Eggleston, CWU, 10:31.65; 20. Erin Chinchar, CWU, 10:42. 69).  7:40 p.m. - 400 Hurdles Prelims (4. Haleigh Lloyd, UAA, 59.20).  8:10 p.m. - 10,000  (5. Amy Johnston, UAA, 35:01.46; 8. Shannon Porter, SMU, 35:05.97; 15. Caroline Kurgat, UAA, 36:28.00).

Friday: 10:30 a.m. – Heptathlon (Anders). 5:30 p.m. – 200 Prelims  (16. Jamie Ashcroft, UAA, 24.08). 6 p.m. – 800 Prelims (1. Lindsey Butterworth, SFU, 2:04.11; 7. Lynelle Decker, SPU, 2:08.13; 21. Jessica Pakhala, UAA, 2:10.59). 7:15 p.m. – Steeplechase (Steen, Eggleston, Chinchar).

Saturday: 11 a.m. - Javelin (3. Katie Reichert, WWU, 50.48 – 165-7; 7. Kalli Walker, SMU, 47.36 – 155-4; 14. Amanda Short, WOU, 44.12 – 144-9; 15. Sheila Limas De La Cruz, WOU, 44.04 – 144-6). 2:05 p.m. - High Jump (17. Mikel Smith, SMU, 2.10 – 6-10 ¾ ).  2:25 p.m. – 1500 (O’Connor, Decker). 3:25 p.m. – 100 (Ashcroft). 3:45 p.m. – 800 (Butterworth, Decker, Pakhala). 4:10 p.m. – 400 Hurdles (Lloyd).  4:40 p.m. – 200 (Ashcroft). 5 p.m. - 5000 (4. Jennifer Johnson, SFU, 16:26.59; 8. Katelyn Steen, WWU, 16:35.53; 9. Shannon Porter, SMU, 16:37.99; 11. Anna Patti, SPU, 16:41.56; 17. Amy Johnston, UAA, 16:52.50).

MEN (All Times Eastern)

Thursday: 3:30 p.m. - Hammer – 17. Kevin Stanley, CWU, 59.17 – 194-1. 5:25 p.m. - 1500 Prelims (10. Travis Vugteveen, SFU, 3:47.63; 16. Marc-Antoine Rouleau, SFU, 3:48.55). 6:25 p.m. – 100 Prelims (3. Alex Donigian, WWU, 10.27). 8:50 p.m. - 10,000 (2. Dominik Notz, UAA, 29:26.29). 

Friday: 5 p.m. - Discus (6. Ryan Macdonald, WWU, 54.07 – 177-5). 6:15 p.m. – 800 Prelims (7. Cameron Proceviat, SFU, 1:49.64). 6:50 p.m. - 110 Hurdles Prelims (14. Travis Milbrandt, WWU, 14.21). 

Saturday: 12:30 p.m. - Pole Vault (7. Payton Lewis, NNU, 5.15 – 16-10 ¾ ). 2:15 p.m. - Javelin (2. Franz Burghagen, UAA, 68.52 – 224-10; 8. Cody Parker, UAA, 65.91 – 216-3; 10. Brian Chalkley, SMU, 65.19 – 213-10; 13. John Haskin, WWU, 64.70 – 212-3; 14. Slater Hirst, WWU, 64.32 – 211-0; 18. Justin Larson, WOU, 63.12 – 207-1).  2:35 p.m. – 1500 (Vugteveen, Rouleau). 2:55 p.m. – 110 Hurdles (Milbrandt). 3:35 p.m. – 100 (Donigian). 3:55 p.m. – 800 (Proceviat). 5:25 p.m. - 5000 (5. Dominik Notz, UAA, 14:07.05; 9. Henry Cheseto, UAA, 14:08.86).

Once Again GNAC Well-Represented in Javelin.

GNAC athletes have won a total of 41 All-American awards in the javelin over the past 14 seasons, including six last season.

This year 10 GNAC javelin throwers – four women and six men – are in the field, including returning All-Americans Reichert, Burghagen, Slater Hirst of Western Washington and WWU’s John Haskin.

Reichert finished second a year ago (165-2), just one inch back of teammate Bethany Drake’s winning throw.  Drake is redshirting this year.

In the men’s division, Burghagen (222-7), Hirst (216-7) and Haskins (204-11) placed second, fourth and eighth.

Record Run by Sultessa A Week Too Late

Three Western Oregon athletes competed last weekend at the Portland Twilight meet.  One of them – Badane Sultessa - turned in a conference-record time of 1:47.59 in the 800 meters.

That eclipsed the old record of 1:49.31 by Paul Mach of Seattle Pacific, which was set in 2005. 

Sultessa’s time bettered the NCAA Division II automatic qualifying mark, but unfortunately came a week after the deadline.

Portland Twilight (May 17 at Portland):  800 – 1. Badane Sultessa, WOU, 1:47.59; 6. Josh Dempsey, 1:51.59.  1500 – 18. David Ribich, WOU, 3:51.11.

GNAC Point Leaders

UAA’s Karolin Anders scored a meet-high 32 points in the 2015 GNAC Track and Field Championships to increase her career individual point total to 88. 

That ranks fourth all-time.  The record of 115 is shared by Bridget Johnson of Western Oregon (2003-06) and Ali Worthen of Seattle Pacific (2011-13).

Western Oregon’s Monica Smith (2002-05) ranks third with 100 points.  Only individual events are counted in the point total.

Haleigh Lloyd scored 24 points in the conference meet and now ranks eighth on the all-time list with 73 ½.  Katelyn Steen of Western Washington finished her career in 18^th place with 61 points.

Freshman Payton Lewis of Northwest Nazarene was the leading male point scorer in the conference meet with 26 points.

On the career list, Rimar Christie of Northwest Nazarene finished his career in eighth place with 59 points after netting 10 points. 

Dylan Anthony of Alaska Anchorage scored 11 points in the conference meet to increase his career total to 52 and moving into a tie for 15^th on the all-time individual event point list.