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Track & Field
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Grand Canyon University Athletics
Star-laden class enters for 2019
10/15/2018 2:45:00 PM | Track and Field
Multiple state champions join GCU roster
With the 2019 track and field season around the corner, Grand Canyon head coach Tom Flood announced an incoming recruiting class that features standouts from Arizona and across the U.S. and world.
The roster of newcomers includes state champions and multiple athletes who have an opportunity to make an early impact for the Lopes, who won men's and women's WAC championships for indoor and outdoor track and field last season.
Highlighting the men's newcomers are Blake Bennett, Adam Knuff, Jacob Lewis, Max Myers and Deshon Toney.
Blake Bennett
The women's side is highlighted by the only transfer, Niki Xydona from Utah State, along with Ana Alvarez Tostado, Zaire Chest, Kennedy Quarles and Julia Schumacher.
Ana Alvarez Tostado
To see the full 2019 roster, click here.
The roster of newcomers includes state champions and multiple athletes who have an opportunity to make an early impact for the Lopes, who won men's and women's WAC championships for indoor and outdoor track and field last season.
Highlighting the men's newcomers are Blake Bennett, Adam Knuff, Jacob Lewis, Max Myers and Deshon Toney.
Blake Bennett
- Personal records: mile – four minutes, 19.36 seconds, 3,000 meters – 8:39.38
- 1,600 relay Alaska state champion
- Bennett already has made an impact for the Lopes on the cross country course, finishing in the top five for the team in every race this season. He was the Lopes' top finisher at the George Kyte Classic in Flagstaff, Ariz.
- PR: 100 – 10.57, 200 – 22.13
- Knuff was an all-state sprinter in the 100 for Tempe (Ariz.) Corona Del Sol. Knuff finished second in the 100 at the Arizona Division I State Championships, fifth in the 200 and also ran the 300 hurdles in the state championship meet in multiple seasons.
- PR: 800 – 1:56.56, mile – 4:11.48, 2 miles: 9:23.64
- Arizona Division I state champion in 800
- Lewis had a fantastic short running career at Anthem (Ariz.) Boulder Creek. Flood and cross country head coach Sara Slattery expect big things out of the distance runner at GCU.
- PR: discus – 171-8, shot put – 58-7
- Wyoming 4A state champion in shot put and discus
- Myers hails from Sheridan, Wyo., where he sets school records for shot put and discus as a junior.
- PR: shot put – 60-10.5, discus – 175-2
- Arizona Division I state champion in discus
- Toney stays home in Phoenix, where he won six the shot put in six meets for Desert Vista before taking the state discus title.
The women's side is highlighted by the only transfer, Niki Xydona from Utah State, along with Ana Alvarez Tostado, Zaire Chest, Kennedy Quarles and Julia Schumacher.
Ana Alvarez Tostado
- PR: mile – 5:10.64, 2 mile – 11:23.43
- Arizona Division II state champion in the mile
- Alvarez Tostado brings in solid times from Tucson Salpointe Catholic, where she was a state champion in the mile as a senior. As a GCU freshman, she posted solid times for cross country this fall.
- PR: 100 – 12.05, 200 – 24.64, 60 – 7.78
- Arizona Division I state champion in the 400 relay
- Chest is a speedy sprinter from Chandler, Ariz., where she finished third in the 100 at state and fourth in the 200. Chest was part of Chandler's state championship 400 relay in 2017.
- PR: 800 – 2:14.57, 1,500 – 4:42.48, 3,000 – 10:10.1
- Iowa Class 3A state champion in the 3,000
- Schumacher has been putting in miles with GCU cross country this fall and will look to be a staple of the mid-distance and distance crew during track season. The freshman did the bulk of her damage on the track in her underclassman years at Assumption in Iowa, including a 2015 state title in the 3,000.
- PR: 400 – 55.47, 200 – 24.79
- Georgia Class 6A state championship in the 1,600 relay
- Quarles comes from a rich sprinting part of the country in Douglasville, Ga., where her New Manchester 1,600 relay team won a state title.
- PR: heptathlon – 4,962 points
- Xydona had successful seasons at Utah State after moving from Greece. The heptathlete finished eighth at the Mountain West Conference Championships in the heptathlon and has a personal record score that would be a GCU record.
To see the full 2019 roster, click here.
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