Feb. 14, 2007

GNAC Indoor Program

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Shooting for a third straight title in the men's division, Western Washington University competes in the fourth annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Monday (9 a.m.) on Jackson's Track in the Idaho Sports Center at Nampa, Id.

"By the projected scores, this is going to be a very competitive meet," said Western coach Pee Wee Halsell, the GNAC indoor men's Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2006. "It's going to be a great championship. I don't know if I've ever had this much excitement going in. There won't be any room for mistakes on either side."

The Viking men, who finished second in the inaugural event three years ago, are again expected to battle Central Washington for the title. The Wildcats placed second last year, 17 points behind Western.

"It's going to be Central and us going for it and our goal is to defend our championship," Halsell said. "They're gunning for us and we want to beat them. Every point is going to be crucial."

"The pole vault, 5,000 meters, mile, 800 and 60 should be big areas for us, but it may be those areas where we aren't predicted to score well that will make the difference."

In the women's division, Seattle Pacific, which has won the first three GNAC titles, looks unbeatable. Host Northwest Nazarene figures to battle Western Oregon, Central and the Vikings for second place. Western has placed fifth in each of the last three years.

"Seattle Pacific is definitely the leader and then there's going to be a four-team fight for second," said Halsell. "It's amazing to see how close it is and it's exciting to see that we're in a position where we could place second. But our ultimate goal is to move up."

The Western men are again strong in the pole vault where they have posted a 1-2-3 sweep the last two years. Tyler Thornbrue (Sr., Shelton), who has placed second the last two years, has already bettered the national provisional qualifying standard three times this season and leads the GNAC with a mark of 16-1 1/4. Bryan Lucke (Jr., Snohomish/Monroe) is second at 15-1 1/2 and Hunter Verner (Sr., Brentwood, TN) third at 14-7 1/2. Verner won the event in 2005.

The Vikings also are looking to get strong men's field performances from Peter Geist (Sr., Portland, OR/Grant) and Dincer Kayhan (Fr., Gig Harbor). Geist is ranked second in the high jump (6-4 3/4) and Kayhan fourth in the shot put (47-5 3/4). Kayhan's mark is a school record.

Leading the Western sprinters are Michael Dean ((Fr., Tacoma/Stadium), Adam Neff (Sr., White Salmon/Columbia) and Dustin Wilson (Sr., Silverdale/Central Kitsap). Dean has the GNAC's best times in both the 60 meters (7.06) and 200 (22.34), both school records. Wilson is the defending champion in the 60.

In the middle distance and distance races, the Vikings are paced by Anthony Tomsich (So., Fairbanks, AK/West Valley), Chad Portwood (Sr., Cheney), Sam Brancheau (Sr., Edmonds/Edmonds-Woodway), Keith Lemay (Jr., Blaine/Lynden Christian) and Logan Senrud (Sr., Bigfork, MT). Tomsich has provisional qualifying and school-record times in both the 5,000 (14:50.02) and mile (4:13.41). Brancheau is second in the 800 (1:55.43), Lemay third in the mile (4:19.79) and Portwood third in the 5,000 (15:00.27).

Heading the women's contingent for Western is Kim Bascom (Sr., Camano Island/Stanwood), who has a school-record 37-8 3/4 in the triple jump, which met the provisional standard. She also is third in the long jump (17-6 1/4).

Heidi Dimmitt (So., Wenatchee) ranks third in the 60 (8.12) and 400 (59.71) and fourth in the 200 (26.46). Christy Miller (So., Boise, Id./Bishop Kelly) is second in the pole vault (11-1/4) as is Lindsay Lunderman (Fr., Tacoma/Franklin Pierce) in the 60 hurdles (9.41), and Clara Cook (So., Wenatchee) is third in the high jump, clearing a school record and provisional qualifying 5-5.

Great Northwest Athletic Conference

Seattle Pacific Women; Western Washington, Central Men Teams To Beat In GNAC Indoor

Seattle Pacific will be a prohibitive favorite to win its fourth straight women's title and Western Washington will get a stiff challenge from arch-rival Central Washington in its bid to win its third straight men's title Monday in the fourth annual Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships on Jackson's Track in the Idaho Sports Center at Nampa, Idaho.

The meet begins at 9 a.m. with the women's shot put and high jump. The first running event, the prelims in the women's 60 meter hurdles, will begin at 11 a.m.

"By the projected scores, this is going to be a very competitive meet," said Western coach Pee Wee Halsell, the GNAC Indoor Men's Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2006. "It's going to be a great championship. I don't know if I've ever had this much excitement going in. There won't be any room for mistakes on either side."

Western and Central split the two men's track-and-field titles a year ago. The Vikings won the indoor title by 17 points, but the Wildcats bounced back to win the outdoor title by 34.

"It's going to be Central and us going for it and our goal is to defend our championship," Halsell said. "They're gunning for us and we want to beat them. Every point is going to be crucial."

Going in each team has 14 top three individual seeds and no other team has more than four. The Vikings have five No. 1 seeds, five No. 2s and four No. 3s, while the Wildcats have four No. 1s, four No. 2 and six No. 3s. CWU is also the top seed in the 4x400 relay, but the distance medley relay is somewhat of a wild card as neither team competed in the event in the regular-season.

"The pole vault, 5,000 meters, mile, 800 and 60 should be big areas for us, but it may be those areas where we aren't predicted to score well that will make the difference," Halsell said.

The Vikings have the top three seeds in the pole vault led by provisional national qualifier and GNAC record holder Tyler Thornbrue, Bryan Lucke and 2005 champion Hunter Verner, but Central counters in the throwing events with four of the top five seeds in the weight throw and the top three in the shot put.

CWU's Evan Ruud and Cameron Neel each set conference records this winter; Ruud in the 35-pound weight with a throw of 60-0 ½; Neel in the shot (58-5 ½) where he is the two-time defending champion.

In the women's division, Seattle Pacific looks unbeatable with eight of the top 13 individual seeds and 16 of 39 top three individual seeds. The real battle will be for second place. The Vikings have seven athletes seeded among the top 3 (1-3-3). Central Washington (2-0-4) and Western Oregon (1-4-1) have six each and host Northwest Nazarene (1-2-1) has four.

"Seattle Pacific is definitely the leader and then there's going to be a four-team fight for second," said Halsell.

Among Seattle Pacific's top seeds are sprinter Nyema Sims, high jumper Teona Perkins and miler Jessica Pixler. Sims has set GNAC records this winter in the 60 (7.63) and 200 (25.31), while Perkins and Pixler already have assured themselves for berths in the national meet with automatic qualifying marks of 5-8 ¾ and 4:47.80, respectively. Pixler is the national leader in the mile with a time 5 ½ seconds faster than anyone else in the nation.

Three other GNAC women and four GNAC men, including Neel and Ruud, have also set GNAC records this season.

NNU's Ashley Puga set a record in the 3,000 (10:09.00). She, however, will skip that race and instead double in the 800, where she is the defending champion and top seed, and in the mile where she will battle with Pixler and defending champion Katie Hummel of Central Washington.

Kim Bascom of Western Washington set a conference mark in the triple jump (37-8 ¾). She will try to dethrone NNU's Amanda Merrell, the No. 2 seed and the two-time defending champion. Central Washington's Krissy Tandle, last year's Outstanding Female Performer, is the conference record holder in the shot put (45-4 ½) where she will be gunning for her third consecutive title. She's also the returning champion in the weight throw.

Other returning champions on the women's side in addition to Puga, Bascom, Tandle, Merrell and Hummel include Perkins in the high jump and Jacque Postlewait of Western Oregon in the long jump. Karin Rohde of Seattle Pacific, who is the top seed, won the 5,000-meter title two years ago.

On the men's side, nine former champions are back led by two-time winners Neel in the shot and Central Washington's Sam Scotchmer in the 5,000, who unbelievably won the title with an identical GNAC meet record times of 15:03.96 in both 2005 and 2006.

In the way of a three-peat for Scotchmer is John Riak of Saint Martin's, who set the GNAC record of 14:46.95 last weekend, and WWU's Anthony Tomsich, who held the record for a few weeks after running a 14:50.02 earlier this season. Scotchmer is only the No. 4 seed also trailing Chad Portwood of Western Washington.

Other returning champions include CWU's Robert Edwards in the 60 hurdles, Greg Hamm of Northwest Nazarene in the triple jump and Dustin Wilson of Western Washington in the 60.

Edwards set a GNAC record earlier this winter in the hurdles running a 8.22 at the Kibbie Dome in Moscow.

Western Washington has two former champions in the 60 - Wilson and 2005 champion Eddie Kaeka. Other 2005 returning champs include Seattle Pacific's Ryan Jewell in the 200 meters, Blake Herrington of Western Oregon in the triple jump and WWU's Verner in the pole vault.

In the relays, Northwest Nazarene and Seattle Pacific are the defending champions in the men's 4x400 and distance medley, respectively, while Central Washington won both the women's 4x400 and distance medley relay a year ago. The Wildcats will be gunning for their fourth straight women's 4x400 title.