Lopes kickoff 2017 in Flagstaff

1/11/2017 4:54:00 PM | Track and Field

By: Jake Hernandez

The Grand Canyon men's and women's track & field teams will start the 2017 indoor season with the Northern Arizona Friday Night Duals in Flagstaff, Ariz. on Friday, Jan. 13 as both teams start their quest to defend their 2016 WAC Indoor titles.

"We all are very excited for this season to begin as we've had outstanding practices this fall," head coach Tom Flood commented. "We've welcomed a lot of new faces to the program this year and finally ready to see how they perform with a GCU uniform on.

"Right out of the blocks we will see where we stand against several perineal NCAA Division I powerhouse track and field programs in Arizona State, Arizona and NAU."

Grand Canyon will look to continue their winning ways as many of the indoor conference champs return to lead the way for 2017. For the women, all but one indoor conference champ will return for 2017. Senior Kevina Godfrey and junior Bailie Jones will look to improve on a 2016 season as they two Lopes took home two indoor WAC titles a piece. Competing in multiple events, Godfrey finished first in the long jump (5.86m) for the second-consecutive year, and was part of the 4x400m relay champion team. Jones earned titles in the 800m (2:14.70) and distance medley relay team.

At throws, Jamaican native, Tarasue Barnett, took home the 2016 WAC shot put title before she earned herself a spot on the Jamaican Olympic team for the 2016 Rio Olympics. At the NAU Invitational, Barnett broke the GCU Indoor shot put record when she recorded a throw of 14.88m (48-10).

In 2016, the lady Lopes took home a total of nine WAC titles, including 60m hurdles (Briana Myers), 60m (Tope Williams), 800m, DRM (Jones, Anna Henry, Paeden Jackson and Emily Wilkinson), 4x400m (Godfrey, Christina Miles, Alexandra Gilbert and Jessy Eatmon), long jump, pole vault (Jennifer Rolph), triple jump (Andrea Olstead) and shot put.

On the men's side, all but two indoor conference champions will be return as they look to build on another successful indoor season for Grand Canyon. Led by three-time WAC indoor champ, Marcus Flannigan, the men's team claimed a total of six titles during the 2016 WAC Indoor Championships. Flannigan, an Arizona native, broke the GCU indoor long jump record (7.73m) to take home his second-consecutive conference long jump title.

The men's team also returns redshirt junior Pierre-Louis Ricou. The native from France claimed two WAC indoor titles, including the 60m hurdles (8.19) and the prestigious heptathlon (4,627).

"As always with our first indoor meet, we will try and shake off a little holiday rust and begin our run to defend our team WAC titles in Nampa, Idaho this year. If both teams stay healthy and hungry, we will have an excellent chance for both teams to be standing on the top of the podium again this year. We won't sneak up on anyone this year and so we will have to earn every point we can at the WAC Indoor Championships in February."

In 2016, the Lopes broke three school records at NAU's Skydome:

In 2017, GCU will compete in Flagstaff, Ariz. three times during the indoor season! #LopesRising

Here is a look at GCU's success at NAU: pic.twitter.com/o34M2aK96W
— GCU Track/XC (@GCU_TrackXC) November 4, 2016