Track & Field | 5/12/2018 8:20:00 AM

MONMOUTH, Ore.—Becoming the first male athlete in conference history to win four consecutive individual outdoor event titles, Western Oregon University's David Ribich was named the GNAC Track Athlete of the Meet after capturing wins in the 800 and the 1,500 at the GNAC Track & Field Championships, held at McArthur Field on Saturday.

Ribich led a 1-2-4-5-6-7 Western Oregon result in the 800 and returned to the track to guide a 1-2-3-4 WOU finish in the 1,500 meters as the team combined to score 61 of their 100 total points in the two events alone.

Concordia won the men's title with 138 points while Western Washington finished second (127 point) and Central Washington third (123 points).

Seattle Pacific won the women's title with 154 1/2 points to outdistance Central Washington and Concordia after the two programs tied for second place with 121 points.

Ribich opened his day by clocking a 1:52.07 in the 800 and returned with a 3:49.22 to win the 1,500. Teammate Dustin Nading earned runner-up honors in both races with times of 1:52.43 and 3:49.38.

Josh Dempsey and Parker Marson completed the WOU sweep of the top four positions in the 1,500 with times of 3:50.72 and 3:52.95. Giving the Wolves their fifth scorer in the 1,500, Justin Crosswhite crossed in 7th place with a 3:56.64. Marson's time was a personal record by more than four full seconds.

Also scoring in the men's 800 for the Wolves were Neal Cranston (4th, 1:53.74), Curt Knott (5th, 1:53.90), AJ Holmberg (6th, 1:54.03) and Dempsey (7th, 1:54.79).

The WOU women were well represented in the distances as well as Suzanne Van De Grift earned podium status in the 1,500 with a 3rd-place result and a career best and school record time of 4:25.85. The improvement also moves Van De Grift into the No. 11 spot on the NCAA DII performance list.

Olivia Woods and Megan Rose scored eight team points in the 800 with Woods crossing in 2:10.42 for 4th and Rose 2:13.92 for 6th place, respectively. Both Woods and Rose are currently ranked in the top 15 on the NCAA DII performance list with Woods ranked No. 8 nationally with a season best of 2:07.76 and Rose No. 14 with a 2:09.05 this season.

Moving up to the 5,000, Kennedy Rufener and Tyler Jones swept the silvers with Rufener edging Simon Fraser's Ally Ginther by .33 for second place with a time of 17:08.51 and Jones in contention for the win until the end with a 14:50.08.

In the final event of the day, the women's 1,600-meter relay team captured the school's final second-place result in record-setting fashion. Trailing Simon Fraser's McArthur Field record of 3:33.33, the WOU quartet of Grayson Burke, Rose, Van De Grift and Woods toured the track in 3:45.82 to slash more than four full seconds of the former school best. The time stands as the No. 14 mark in NCAA DII this season.

In the 400 hurdles, Sara Madden flirted with a career-best with a 1:03.64 and a 5th-place result. Madden's time fell .25 from her career best of 1:03.39, but scored four points for the team chase.

In the field events, Darian Wilson continued to pile on the points for the Wolves with another 3rd-place finish; this time in the javelin. Wilson moved up to a No. 10 ranking nationally in the event and to No. 4 on WOU's all-time performance list with a 154-5 (47.07m). Wilson had already placed 3rd in the long jump and also earned points in the meet with a 5th-place finish in the heptathlon and a 7th-place results in the triple jump.

Also netting a career best in the event, Halie Korff was measured in 146-8 (44.71m) to earn a national outdoor provisional qualifier.  Korff's mark was more than a seven-foot improvement over her previous season best and moves the sophomore into the top 20 nationally.  

Tyler Wells, meanwhile, also hit a collegiate best in the javelin with a 189-4 (57.70m) to place 7th in the men's competition.

Scoring in the horizontal jumps, Jalon Fields soared 45-7 1/2 (13.60m) in the triple jump to secure a 7th-place result and add two points to the team scoring. The sprinting duo of Cody Warner and Codi Blodgett provided additional team points with Warner topping out at a 21.78 in the 200-meter dash for 6th place and Blodgett 10.95 for 7th place in the 100.

The Wolves will close out the 2018 season at the NCAA DII Outdoor Track & Field National Championships on May 24-26. The three-day event will take place at the Irwin Belk Complex in Charlotte, N.C.
 

WOU COMPETITION LIST
SATURDAY RUNNING EVENTS
Time	Event	Seed / Name / Mark	Place	Mark
12:00 pm	400 Relay (M)	8. WOU, 42.84	7.	44.23
12:05 pm	400 Relay (W)	8. WOU, 50.70	7.	50.01
12:10 pm	1,500 (M)	1. David Ribich, 3:37.35	1.	3:49.22
		2. Dustin Nading, 3:45.23	2.	3:49.38
		3. Josh Dempsey, 3:48.84	3.	3:50.72
		6. Justin Crosswhite. 3:54.72	7.	3:56.64
		9. Parker Marson, 3:57.24	4.	3:52.95
		15. Stephen Fey	15.	4:07.39
		16. Hunter Mosman, 4:01.06	18.	4:17.27
12:25 pm	1,500 (W)	4. Suzanne Van De Grift, 4:28.10	3.	4:25.85
1:05 pm	400 (W)	6. Grayson Burke, 57.85	6.	57.74
1:10 pm	100 (M)	7. Codi Blodgett, 10.87 (Pre: 8.11.00)	7.	10.95
1:20 pm	800 (M)	1. David Ribich, 1:48.09 (Pre: 2, 1:5347)	1.	1:52.07
		2. Josh Dempsey, 1:51.26 (Pre: 4, 1:52.97)	7.	1:54.79
		3. AJ Holmberg, 1:51.39 (Pre: 3, 1:54.35)	6.	1:54.03
		5. Dustin Nading, 1:52.11 (Pre: 1, 1:52.69)	2.	1:52.43
		6. Neal Cranston, 1:52.61 (Pre: 7, 1:54.19)	4.	1:53.74
		7. Curt Knott, 1:52.78 (Pre: 5, 1:54.05)	5.	1:53.90
		8. Thomas Normandeau, 1:53.39 (Pre: 8, 1:54.37)	9.	1:58.37
1:25 pm	800 (W)	3. Olivia Woods, 2:07.76 (Pre: 2. 2:09.84)	4.	2:10.42
		4. Megan Rose, 2:09.05 (Pre: 5, 2:11.99)	6.	2:13.92
1:50 pm	400 H (W)	5. Sara Madden, 1:03.39 (Pre: 5: 1:03.47)	5.	1:03.64
2:00 pm	200 (M)	6. Cody Warner, 21.75 (Pre: 5, 21.82)	4.	21.78
2:10 pm	5,000 (M)	2. Tyler Jones, 14:40.28	2.	14:50.08
		Justin Crosswhite, NM	-	DNF
2:30 PM	5,000 (W)	6. Kennedy Rufener, 17:13.06	2.	17:08.51
3:05 pm	1,600 Relay (M)	6. WOU, 3:20.69	6.	3:20.50
3:10 PM	1,600 Relay (W)	3. WOU, 3:49.89	2.	3:45.82
SATURDAY FIELD EVENTS
Time	Event	Seed / Name / Mark	Place	Mark
10 am	Hammer (M)	17. Mont Child, 153-5 1/2 (46.78m)	12.	158-5 (48.29m)
		19. Owen Collins, 141-11 (43.26m)	19.	136-8 (41.67m)
	Hammer (W)	8. Sylvia Dean, 160-1 1/4 (48.80m)	11.	150-4 (45.83m)
		11. Alecia Falck, 154-4 3/4 (47.06m)	10.	150-7 (45.91m)
		13. Mariah Gronbach, 153-6 (46.79m)	12.	142-11 (43.57m)
10:45 am	Javelin (W)	6. Darian Wilson, 144-5 1/4 (44.03m)	3.	154-5 (47.07m)
		8. Halie Korff, 139-3 1/4 (42.45m)	6.	146-8 (44.71m)
		12. Sheila Limas De La Cruz, 128-7 (39.20m)	13.	121-5 (37.01m)
10:30 am	High Jump (M)	T12. Connor Reinke, 6-2 (1.88m)	T11.	6-0 1/2 (1.84m)
		T12. Kolton Rohde, 6-2 (1.88m)	T11.	6-0 1/2 (1.84m)
11:20 am	Triple Jump (M)	5. Jalon Fields, 45-7 1/2 (13.91m)	7.	44-7 1/2 (13.60m)
		12. Kolton Rohde, 43-3 1/4 (13.19m)	10.	43-9 3/4 (13.35m)
		14. Jack Grundmeyer, 40-3 3/4 (12.29m)	--	Foul
1 pm	Javelin (M)	12. Kyle Wells, 169-2 (51.56m)	7.	189-4 (57.70m)
FRIDAY RUNNING EVENTS
Time	Event	Seed / Name / Mark	Place	Mark
2:35 pm	Steeple (M)	15. Sawyer Heckard, 9:58.29	15.	9:48.20
3:00 pm	Steeple (W)	13. Cassie McKinney, 12:00.73	11.	11:45.64
		15. Isabelle Tingelstad, 12:05.83	10.	11:45.28
3:35 pm	100 H (W)	15. Michaela Yonkman, 15.83	15.	18.35
4:00 pm	400 (W)	6. Grayson Burke, 57.43	6.	57.85q
4:15 pm	100 (M)	7. Codi Blodgett, 10.87	8.	11.00q
4:30 pm	100 (W)	18. Hailey Sears, 12.79	17.	12.79
		19. Natalie Legras, 13.07	20.	13.03
4:45 pm	800 (M)	1. David Ribich, 1:48.09	2.	1:53.47q
		2. Josh Dempsey, 1:51.26	4.	1:52.97q
		3. AJ Holmberg, 1:51.39	3.	1:54.35q
		5. Dustin Nading, 1:52.11	1.	1:52.69q
		6. Neal Cranston, 1:52.61	7.	1:54.19q
		7. Curt Knott, 1:52.78	5.	1:54.04q
		8. Thomas Normandeau, 1:53.39	8.	1:54.37q
		14. Zachary Kanelis, 1:55.63	23.	2:00.01
		21. Dominick Marshall, 1:56.89	14.	1:56.45
5:00 pm	800 (W)	3. Olivia Woods, 2:07.76	2.	2:09.84q
		4. Megan Rose, 2:09.05	5.	2:11.99q
		11. Shayla Solomon, 2:18.62	12.	2:24.61
		13. Rachel Bayly, 2:22.23	13.	2:28.35
5:30 pm	400 H (W)	5. Sara Madden, 1:03.39	5.	1:03.47q
		8. Nicole Niskanen, 1:06.49	9.	1:06.40
		15. Michaela Yonkman, 1:08.37	17.	1:09.68
5:45 pm	200 (M)	6. Cody Warner, 21.75	5.	21.82q
		18. Devon Fortier, 22.23	--	--
5:45 pm	200 (W)	15. Hailey Sears, 26.35	12.	26.11
FRIDAY FIELD EVENTS
Time	Event	Seed / Name / Mark	Place	Mark
2:00 pm	Discus (M)	8. Chris Steffey, 47.34m	8.	154-10 (47.19m)
		11. Nick Sieber, 46.69m	11.	146-10 (44.77m)
		20. Mont Child, 42.32m	17.	139-8 (42.58m)
3:10 pm	Shot (W)	T12. Moana Gianotti, 11.84m	13.	36-0 (10.97m)
3:35 pm	Pole Vault (M)	9. Jackson Stallard, 4.35m	10.	13-0 3/4 (3.98m)
		12. Jacob Collins, 4.15m	7.	13-6 1/2 (4.13m)
3:50 pm	Long Jump (M)	1. Alani Troutman, 7.40m	1.	22-5 (6.83m)
		19. Mitchell Kruse, 6.38m	20.	19-6 3/4 (5.96m)
4:15 pm	Long Jump (W)	7. Darian Wilson, 5.56m	3.	18-0 1/2 (5.50m)
4:30 pm	Shot (M)	9. Nick Sieber, 15.01m	12.	47-9 (14.55m)
		T13. Mont Child, 14.79m	11.	48-1 3/4 (14.67m)
		T13. Chris Steffey, 14.79m	-	F
		15. Brandon Bowen, 14.75m	18.	46-1 1/4 (14.05m)
4:30 pm	Discus (W)	10. Mariah Gronbach, 39.98m	9.	130-8 (39.83m)
		12. Halie Korff, 39.68m	12.	122-5 (37.31m)
		13. Moana Gianotti, 38.36m	8.	132-4 (40.33m)