Track & Field | 2/19/2014 1:30:00 PM
MONMOUTH, Ore. – The Western Oregon University women's and men's track and field teams travel to Nampa, Idaho, for the 2014 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Championships Friday and Saturday.
The 11th annual event will take place in the Ford Idaho Center again this season. This year's championships had no qualifying standards. Each school could enter 25 student-athletes per gender in an unlimited number of events. Each team could also bring an unlimited number of student-athletes to run relays only.
After five consecutive conference titles from 2008 to 2012, the WOU men finished third in the 2013 GNAC Championships, while the women placed sixth. The Wolves came away with four individual titles. In her freshman season,
Alexis Anderson had a big meet winning the women's high jump and the triple jump.
Matson Hardie, the 2010 Indoor Championship Outstanding Performer of the Meet, claimed the men's triple jump crown with his fifth mark of 48-1.25 (14.66m).
Ryan Hansen, the 2012 GNAC Newcomer of the Year, edged out teammate Chris Olson in the 800 meters with a time of 1:53.27 for the 800-meter title.
Western Oregon enters the 2014 championships with 10 top-five marks in the GNAC. The Wolves' distance medley relay team of
Josh Hanna,
Kody Rhodes, Hansen and
Brady Beagley hit WOU's lone NCAA Div. II National Championships provisional qualifying mark of the season last week at the Husky Classic. The quartet ran the fastest time this season in the conference at 9:58.43. The time placed them second in the event at the meet and second all-time on the school's top-10 list.
While the men's DMR time is the lone top mark for the Wolves entering the conference championships, Western Oregon has several student-athletes that will contend for top finishes in their respective events.
Rhodes boasts the fourth best time in the 60-meter hurdles. The senior raced to 8.45 to open the season at the University of Washington Indoor Preview. He will be one of six Wolves racing in the event beginning with the preliminaries on Friday at 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time.
Brett Campbell will be looking to reclaim his 2012 conference crown. Freshman
Kaelen Byrum is also fourth in the men's triple jump.
Madison McClung and
Emmi Collier both had third place finishes in their respective events at last year's championship, and both enter this year with fifth-place seeds. McClung's seed time of 7.95 in the 60 meters came last week at the Husky Classic. Collier had a top toss in the shot put, 41-11.5 (12.79m) at the University of Washington Invitational this season.
McClung won the conference 200-meter title in 2012. The senior has totaled 40 individual points in three previous conference meets including six last year. That puts her in 24th place on the GNAC all-time conference meet point list.
Defending team champions Western Washington and Alaska Anchorage figure to be the teams to beat this weekend in the championships. The WWU men have the top seed in eight of the 17 events and return five defending champions, while the UAA women have seven No. 1 seeds.
The GNAC Championships begins with the men's heptathlon at 9 a.m. MT Friday.
Eric Gaines will be the lone Wolf in the multi-event competition. Freshmen
Emily Moe and
Charlene Harber follow in the women's pentathlon beginning at 9:15 a.m. The running events begin at 2:30 p.m. and the field events open at 3:30 p.m. Live results will be available on WOUWolves.com. Tickets are also available for purchase on WOUWolves.com.
