Men win first WAC Indoor Championship

Saturday, February 27

Nampa, Idaho

All Day

Grand Canyon

WAC Indoor Championships Day 3

2/28/2016 5:42:00 AM | Track and Field

By: Charles Hampton

NAMPA, Idaho -- The Grand Canyon men's track and field team won its first WAC Indoor Championship title since transitioning to Division I at the Ford Idaho Center on Saturday.

"It is a tremendous accomplishment for our men's team to win the first outright conference team title in school history at the Division I level," head coach Tom Flood said. "I am very proud of the fight in these young men and their no-quit attitude. Some of them still feel the sting of losing by one point two years ago, so I am extremely happy for them. They left no doubt this year as to who was the best team this weekend."

After Utah Valley briefly regained the lead with points in the shot put and placing four in the top five in the mile, the Lopes answered right back in the 60m hurdles, finishing with the top three scorers and five of the top six to retake the lead. After the men's pole vault, Grand Canyon took firm control of the meet to never look back, cruising to a 49-point win over runner-up Utah Valley 232-183. UMKC finished third with 108.50.

Flood has mentioned many times how close the men have come in the past to only come up a few points short. They were determined to not let a few points affect the outcome this time around.

Pierre-Louis Ricou followed up his heptathlon victory Friday with another stellar performance on Saturday as he won the 60m hurdles with a season-best and conference-leading time of 8.19. In addition to his two event victories, Ricou also finished second in the long jump, and fourth in the high jump and pole vault. His 38 points scored were the top among all men, earning him the High Point Winner and Outstanding Field Performer recognition from the conference.

Grand Canyon dominated the men's pole vault by going 1-5, led by Scott Marshall' s vault of 15-11.0. Cody Smith and Joqauin Castellanos each cleared 14-07.25 to finish second and third before the Lopes' heptathlete duo of Ricou and Keith Williams finished 4-5 to give the Lopes a whopping 33 points in the event.

Aaron Thurber defended his 60m title from a year ago by edging out Nicholas Taylor of Utah Valley by .01 seconds while the Lopes added a fourth, fifth and sixth-place finishes behind Thurber. Isaac Allanarem was the top finisher in the 400 where he and Anthony Phelps went 4-5, running 48.92 and 49.28 respectively.

Some of the field events were wrapping up around this time as Jude Olear was the runner-up in the triple jump in a season-best 47-10.50.

After Brandon Gonzalez placed sixth in the 800, Thurber, Flannigan, Ralston and Allanrem all rallied back and finished second, third, fifth and eighth to contribute another 19 points. By the time the meet's last event rolled around, the 4x400 relay, the Lopes had already clinched the team victory. But Flood had discussed the previous day on how he wanted both of his teams to end on a high note and did they ever. His relay team of Allanarem, Ralston, Phelps and Flannigan closed out the meet with a victory in their fastest time of the year, 3:13.24.

Flood was named the WAC men's Coach of the Year after the meet.

"I'm so thankful and so blessed," Flood told WAC Digital Network after the meet. "I didn't score one point. It's collectively what my student-athletes have done and what my coaching staff has done. I just happen to be able to lead such a tremendous group."

The Lopes will set their sights on an outdoor title as they kick off the outdoor season in three weeks with the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Ariz., hosted by Arizona.