GCU sets 12 new WAC-best marks at Willie Williams Classic

Friday, March 17

Tucson, AZ

Grand Canyon

Willie Williams Classic

GCU sets 12 new WAC-best marks at Willie Williams Classic

3/18/2017 8:39:00 PM | Track and Field

By: Samantha Fell

TUCSON, Ariz. – The GCU track and field team finished strong at Day 2 of the Willie Williams Classic at Roy P. Drachman Stadium. Hosted by the University of Arizona, the Classic boasted a field of more than ten teams and Grand Canyon set twelve new conference-best marks on both the track and in the field.

"Overall I'm very pleased with the results from our first outdoor meet," GCU head coach Tom Flood noted. "We started out with a bang last night with two school records and several other top conference performances and continued that trend on Day 2 of the meet. We had 12 additional conference-best performances today."

Leading the Lopes in WAC-best performances were four relay teams. The men's 4x100 meter relay and 4x400 meter relay both set best marks with times 41.63 in the 4x1 and 3:16.83 in the 4x4. The 4x1 team consists of Eric Miller, Ryan Girk, Dionee Marrero, and Dario Horvat while the 4x4 team has Anthony Phelps, Brandon Gonzalez, Anthony Stennis, and Tevin Mayfield.

The women's 4x100 relay, made of Briana Myers, Martina Cernochova, Jessy Eatmon, and Tope Williams, also ran a conference-best time of 46.78. The women's 4x4 team of Symone Wright-Flowers, Yarithza Soto, Eatmon, and Sydney Madrid ran a WAC-best time of 3:55.87.

In the men's 110 meter hurdles, William Winfield ran a WAC-best time of 14.63 seconds to place second. Sarah Root also ran a WAC-best time in the women's 100 meter hurdles, finishing in third place with a time of 14.44 seconds.

In the 400 meter dash, Yarithza Soto had a conference-leading time of 58.00 seconds as well as Brandon Gonzalez's time of 49.00 seconds. Ryan Girk placed second in the 100 meter dash with a time of 10.72 to round out the conference-best times on the track.

Scott Marshall pole vaulted a league-best 4.87 meters (15-11.50') to win the event. Grand Canyon earned the top three places in pole vault as Pierre-Louis Ricou and Cody Smith also vaulted 4.57 meters (14-11.75'). For the women, Trista Smith vaulted a WAC-best 3.52 meters (11-06.5') to place second.

Lastly, Sasha-Gaye Marston threw the discus 48.99 meters (160-8.5') to place fourth in the event and grab the current lead in the WAC.

"We held some athletes out of their normal events and didn't run some at all for precautionary reasons," noted Flood. It's a long outdoor season and we wanted to play it safe. We will get back to work this week and try to improve our performances at San Diego State next weekend."

Next weekend, the team will head to San Diego to compete at the Aztec Invitational from Friday, March 24 to Saturday, March 25.