WAC royalty yet again

Wednesday, May 9

Lawrence, Kan.

ALL DAY

Grand Canyon

Western Athletic Conference

5/12/2018 7:14:00 PM | Track and Field

16 titles pace Lopes to team crowns

By: Fletcher Like

LAWRENCE, Kan. – It's royalty once again in 2018 as the Lopes recorded a sweep of the men's and women's outdoor Western Athletic Conference Championship titles. The Lopes won 14 individual titles in addition to two relay titles on their way to their first outdoor team sweep since 2016.

"I am extremely thrilled to have swept the WAC titles again this year," GCU head coach Tom Flood said. "Both championships were total team efforts, and my coaching staff and I couldn't be more proud of all their performances."

Entering Saturday, the men led by just 16 points entering a track-heavy final day in which the Lopes would finish top eight in every event they participated. The Lopes finished with 254 points, 92 better than runner-up Utah Valley.

"After redshirting a lot of athletes last outdoor season, it is really sweet for these talented seniors to end with hardware," Flood said.

ROYALTY 👑👑 as the Lopes SWEEP the @WACsports Outdoor Track & Field Championships #LopesRising pic.twitter.com/k8glwulLYZ
— GCU Track/XC (@GCU_TrackXC) May 13, 2018

Day 3 started with a huge school record in the men's javelin by Jesse Newman. Needing a big final throw to break the school record and win the individual title, Newman tossed a 68.91-meter throw to finish first. The men kept the ball rolling as Scott Marshall won the WAC in the pole vault for the second time this year with his 5.30-meter jump. Nathan Wesolek tied for second with a 4.96-meter jump and GCU vaulters also finished fifth and eighth in the event.

NEVER QUIT! Jesse Newman wins WAC 🥇 and set a HUGE school record at 68.91m on his final throw of the javelin #LopesRising pic.twitter.com/RGF4WYO52m
— GCU Track/XC (@GCU_TrackXC) May 12, 2018

Freshman Paxton Henry finished fourth in the triple jump with a 14.72-meter leap. Ahmir Lamar finished sixth as the Lopes scored in three of the four field events on Saturday.

On the women's side of the field events, Tarasue Barnett, who already held the WAC all-time discus record, set a WAC Championship meet record with a 60.74-meter discus throw. Barnett also placed third in the hammer with a 50.20-meter toss.

MEET RECORD! Tarasue Barnett wins WAC 🥇 while setting the WAC Championship Meet Record with her 60.74m throw! She now holds both the All-Time and Meet records #LopesRising pic.twitter.com/oTEb2V0WKb
— GCU Track/XC (@GCU_TrackXC) May 12, 2018

Andrea Olstead finished second in the triple jump with a 12.47-meter jump. Kayla Finnegan (Wilson) finished fourth with a 12.39-meter jump.

Ashley Krawczuk jumped well, setting a personal record in the high jump with a 1.65-meter jump to finish fourth. Aaliyah Cook finished in eighth place with her 1.56-meter high jump.

Entering the running events, the men led by just 19 points and would push that lead to as much as 92 on their way to placing in every event but one while winning six races.

The 400-meter relay team of Dionee Marrero, Ryan Girk, Marcus Flannigan and Guillermo Alcala Rendon ran a time of 40.55 seconds to win a WAC title.

In the following event, the 1,500, Daniel Flores came up just short of gold by finishing second with a 4:00.17 finish. Later that afternoon, Flores finished third in the 800 after crossing in 1:55.25.

The 110 hurdles consisted of four Lopes as William Winfield IV outleaned a CSU Bakersfield hurdler by one-hundredth of a second to win the individual title. Anthony Phelps, Tevin Mayfield and Anthony Stennis finished fourth, sixth and eighth, respectively.

Girk started and finished his second race of the day in first place once again, as the senior won the 100 in a school record for all conditions at 10.11. The sprinter then ran the seventh-fastest 200 time in the West Region at 20.51 to secure his third gold medal of the day. GCU placed four sprinters in the 200 final, as Alcala Rendon placed third, Marerro took fourth and Flannigan came in seventh.

Isaac Allanarem began his quest for two medals as he blew past a UTRGV sprinter in the final stretch to win the 400t in 47.13.

Flannigan, along with Phelps, Matesanz and Anthony Stennis won the 1,600 relay in 3:13.12 to claim that crown for the second time in 2018.

As the final Lope crossed the finish line for the final time in Kansas, the Lopes had an 84-point lead to become WAC champions for the second time in 2018.

On the women's side, the Lopes opened up a big lead after the third day and hung on to win by 19.5 points. GCU's 224.5 points held off runner-up Utah Valley.

Both relay teams took third place as the 400 relay of Briana Myers, Dora Filipovic, Naudia Dawson and Tope Williams finished in 46.94 and the 1,600 relay of Filipovic, Yarithza Soto, Symone Wright-Flowers and Alexa Hokanson finished in 3:51.41.

After becoming the first Lopes to win the 3,000 steeplechase, Paige Hildebrandt finished third in the 1,500 at 4:52.90. Erika Wallace finished in seventh at 4:53.52.

Sarah Root ran a blistering fast 13.50 in the 100 hurdles and Myers followed on her heels at 13.55.

Lopes go 1-2 as @__sarahnicole wins 🥇in the 100 hurdles! #LopesRising pic.twitter.com/f0hFmFEgXf
— GCU Track/XC (@GCU_TrackXC) May 12, 2018

Filipovic had a busy day as the freshman finished seventh in the 400 at 59.08.

Hokanson also had a busy day, anchoring the 1,600 relay and racing in the 800. The freshman finished second in the 800 at 2:17.66.

Sydney Madrid and Wright=Flowers finished third and sixth, respectively, in the 400 hurdles. Madrid crossed in 1:05.03 and Wright-Flowers in 1:06.88.

In the final two individual events of the meet, Williams finished fifth in the 200 and Mariah Montoya finished sixth in the 5,000.

"While both teams are relatively young, we do lose some tremendous senior leaders that will be dearly missed," Flood said. "We thank them for their incredible leadership and outstanding performances. We thank them for their contributions and we will look towards our returners and new recruits to carry on our success.

"We will enjoy these team titles on the way home, let the dust settle from this weekend and then will look forward to taking a fairly large group to the NCAA West Regional meet in two weeks."