Preview: WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships

Wednesday, May 13

Orem, UT

All Day

Grand Canyon

WAC Outdoor Championships

Head Coach Tom Flood

5/12/2015 2:34:00 PM | Track and Field, Women's Track and Field

After a strong showing during their regular season outdoor campaign, the Grand Canyon University men's and women's track and field teams are in Orem, Utah, for the 2015 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The four-day meet will get underway today at the Hal Wing Track and Field Complex on the campus of Utah Valley University.

The Antelope women are coming off a second-place finish at last year's outdoor championships, while the men took third a year ago in Orem.

"At this stage of our track and field program, the Outdoor Conference Championship is still a much tougher beast to slay," said head coach Tom Flood. "We are only in our program's fifth year of existence and this is only the second year of having both Indoor and Outdoor Conference Championships. The first three years of our program my emphasis was recruiting national elite student-athletes with not much need for depth. We still strive to recruit the best possible student-athletes, but to win Conference Championships at this level requires depth."

"On the women's side, I have made things a lot tougher by red-shirting Vanessa Levy (field athlete of the meet at last year's Outdoor Championships). We will be led by Bri Kee, Tope Williams, Kevina Godfrey, Jenny Rolph and Aaliyah Cook. We are a much younger team on the ladies side but they won't be intimidated by anyone."

Tope Williams (100-meter dash), Brianne Kee (long jump), Jennifer Rolph (pole vault) and Aaliyah Cook (high jump) have turned in the top performance in the WAC in their respective events this spring. The women's 4x100-meter relay team will also enter the outdoor championships with the fastest time this season. Amanda Sims has clocked the second-fastest 400-meter hurdle time, while Williams ranks second in the 200-meter dash.

Williams was two-time recipient of the WAC Track Athlete of the Week award, while Rolph was named the WAC Field Athlete of the Week, March 30-April 5.

"Our men, even with Utah Valley having a "home field" advantage, will be right in the hunt for a team title," stated Flood. "We will be led by Josh Ralston, Marcus Flannigan, LeSean Marks, Akintunde Adeyemi, Jahliell Wiltshire and Aaron Thurber. We lost Jude Olear to a season-ending injury last week in Irvine but I know we'll have guys step it up in other areas to make up for his valuable points."

Josh Ralston (400-meter dash), Marcus Flannigan (200-meter dash and long jump), LeSean Marks (400-meter hurdles) and Cody Smith (pole vault) all hold the top marks in the conference in their respective events. Aaron Thurber currently ranks second in the WAC in the 100-meter dash and 200-meter dash, while Timmy Johnson has the second-best mark in the pole vault in the conference. Marks has also raced to the second-fastest WAC time in the 110-meter hurdles.

Marks (March 16-22) and Ralston (April 6-12) both brought home WAC Track Athlete of the Week honors during the outdoor campaign.

"Outdoors you add two additional distance races and two additional throwing events," said Flood. "Our team strengths aren't in either one of these areas so we're still working on adding much needed depth. Eventually adding a throws facility on campus will help address those needs."

"Regardless we feel we will make our presence known and battle to the final event. Our talented student-athletes won't concede a single point and will leave it all on the track."

Fans can click here for more information on the championships, including a complete schedule of events. A full recap following each day of competition will be available at www.gculopes.com.