Spokane, WA - SMU track and field teams returned to Lacey Tuesday with many triumphs, both the men's and women's teams fought tooth and nail at the GNAC indoor championships. Many Saints stood on podiums this week and others made school records, this recap has everything you need to know about the outstanding meet.
SMU's distance team exceeded expectations with these amazing accomplishments. Alisha Saucedo won her preliminary heat in the 800m and punched her ticket to the championship final. The following day at the GNAC'S Alisha Saucedo placed third overall in the 800m championship final in a school record and personal record time of 2:13.56. Her time is a provisional national championship qualifier time and ranks her 4th in the GNAC and 51st in the nation. Next Sara Sabra on day one of GNAC'S raced very well in the 5000m championship final and ran an indoor 5000m personal record by 9 seconds, running 18:04, placing 7th and scoring 2 points for the team. SMU's Kya Ramirez ran a determined 5000m in the championship final, running over a 13 second personal record of 18:53, placing 12th overall on the GNAC's first day. The following day Kya Ramirez ran an aggressive and competitive race in the 3000m and just missed setting a personal record by a few seconds; and Sara Sabra put herself in position throughout the 3000m race to be in the top 5 but just fell short and placed 9th, not too far off her personal best. On the second day Cassidy Walchak-Sloan had a busy and exhausting day, but still competed to win. She ended up getting all-conference in 2 events by placing 2nd in the Mile and 3rd in the 3000m and anchored the 4x400m relay. Cassidy is ranked 37th in the nation in the Mile and 2nd in the GNAC. The women's distance team took three GNAC podiums.
On the men's distance team, we first had Noe Ortega in his first college track championship, ran an all-time personal best in the 800m preliminary heats during the first day of GNAC's. The second day in his first GNAC championship, Noe Ortega ran a personal record in the indoor Mile by over 3 seconds. SMU's following athlete was Francis (Timmy) Higgins, he ran an indoor 800m personal best on the GNAC'S first day, this was also his first college track championship. The last few Saints to compete on the GNAC'S first day were Eli Dale, Jaydon Blackburn, Michael Harwell, and Jaskaran Dhatt running their first 5000m race of the season, they all ran hard and competed. Eli, Jaydon, and Jaskaran all ran indoor 5000m personal records on the first day of GNAC'S. The following day Jaydon Blackburn, also in his first GNAC championship, ran a huge 3000m PR by almost 21 seconds and his fellow athlete Eli Dale went out with the leaders during the first half of the race in the first heat of the 3000m, but could not hang on. He battled hard and placed 21st out of 27 runners. The final Saints distant runner was Kainalu Pagente, he pushed himself in the Mile final and put himself in position to be in the top 6 with only 400m to go but could not hold on and ended up placing 14th out of 22 runners. He came back and competed well later in the day on tired legs in the 3000m, placing 19th out of 27 runners and then running his fastest 4x400m relay split ever in a blazing 51 seconds.
The Men's and Women's 4x400m relay teams ran for the first time this season and both placed 8th and scored team points.
The women's field events, sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, throwers, and multi-events athletes made some big strides for SMU. In the 60-meter dash Madison Vu placed 9th with a time of 7.84 breaking SMU's previous school record. Madison Vu also ran the 400-meter dash placing 14th with a time of 1:01.69 in the prelims. In the 200-meter dash Keiko Mills placed 21st with a time of 32.09 in the prelims. In the women's 60-meter hurdles Gabriela Cintron placed 8th with a time of 9.55 in the prelims and then placed 8th in the finals with a time of 9.20. In the women's long jump Margaret Zilla placed 9th with a distance of 5.10m and Alyssa Duncan placed 8th with a distance of 5.26m. Margaret Zilla also competed in the women's triple jump placing 9th with a distance of 10.38m. In women's shot put the Saints Jocelyn Saribay placed 6th with a distance of 11.51m. The next three Saints to compete in this event were Taja Ward who placed 12th, Taylor Dillon who placed 13th and Vanessa Bledsoe placed 20th. In the women's weight throw Jocelyn Saribay placed 2nd on the GNAC podium, her distance was 16.16m. Taja Ward and Vanessa Bledsoe also competed in the event, Ward placed 17th and Bledsoe placed 20th. The women's team took one GNAC podium but earned many points for SMU.
The men's field events, sprinters, hurdlers, jumpers, throwers, and multi-events athletes also made quite a big splash over the last few days. The first event was the men's 60-meter dash which was ran by Ashton Rodriguez who placed 21st with a time of 7.34m. The next event was the 200-meter dash ran by Christian Le who placed 21st with a time of 24.97. In the men's 400-meter dash Zachary Franco placed 14th, Connor Olmstead placed 15th and Noah Boyd placed 17th. In the men's 60-meter hurdles Andrew Boyd placed 5th with a time of 8.59. In the finals of the 60-meter hurdles Andrew Boyd placed 7th with a time of 8.52. In the men's high jump event Connor Olmstead placed 7th with a distance of 1.84m. In men's pole vault event Ryan Doidge took 4th with a distance of 4.33m. In the men's long jump Andrew Schulz placed 8th with a distance of 6.66m. In the Heptathlon Andrew Boyd took the GNAC podium placing 2nd.
The outdoor schedule is up and coming with the first meet being Friday February 23rd and Saturday February 24th, the meet will take place back in the emerald city Seattle, WA.
