4 real: Lopes sweep WAC again

Friday, February 22

Nampa, Idaho

Grand Canyon

WAC Indoor Championships

Photo by: Loren Orr

2/23/2019 7:26:00 PM | Track and Field

Photo Gallery

GCU joins 3 schools in WAC history to 4-peat

By: Fletcher Like

NAMPA, Idaho – The Grand Canyon track and field team joined the WAC elite on Saturday at the WAC Indoor Championships, becoming just the fourth school to win four consecutive WAC Indoor team titles.

Only BYU, UTEP and Louisiana Tech completed the same feat and only BYU had men and women's teams win four in a row during the same years, as the GCU men's and women's teams just did Saturday.

"Winning WAC team titles never gets old and are always total team efforts," Lopes head coach Tom Flood said. "We fought hard for every point and battled from beginning to end."

When the dust settled, GCU won the men's team title by 48 points and the women's title by 34.5 points.

4-peat complete #LopesUp pic.twitter.com/sSA06xqxD2
— GCU Lopes (@GCU_Lopes) February 24, 2019

The Lopes used event titles from senior William Winfield IV in the 60-meter hurdles, sophomore Alexa Hokanson in the 800-meter run, redshirt freshman Trey Johnson in the long jump, sophomore Alyson Schwartz in the pole vault, senior Chris Linnin Jr. in the high jump and junior Grant Carpenter in the heptathlon to clinch team titles.

The bulk of the points, however, came in big performances that did not win titles.

Freshman Jorden Okyere' finished fifth in the shot put to score four points.

Freshman Morgan Adsit improved her pole vault personal record by 8 inches and finished third to score six points.

Junior Paige Hildebrandt shattered the GCU record in the mile and finished third for six more points.

The Lopes went 1-4-5-7-8 in the men's long jump.

GCU scored points in every event but two during the weekend, as the Lopes grinded out their fourth straight WAC men's and women's titles.

Winfield, now a three-time WAC champion in the 60 hurdles, came in tied for 59th in the country and won easily in 8.02 seconds.

3️⃣✖️ WAC Champion William Winfield IV in the 60-meter hurdles #LopesUp pic.twitter.com/kazhlau73g
— GCU Track & XC (@GCU_TrackXC) February 23, 2019

Hokanson won her first WAC title in the 800 after fending off a Utah Valley runner's kick.

WAC Champion. GCU record holder in the 800-meter. Alexa Hokanson #LopesUp pic.twitter.com/cLSzX64rtf
— GCU Track & XC (@GCU_TrackXC) February 23, 2019

Johnson used his last attempt of the day in the finals to jump 7.62 meters, his second-best distance of the season.

Schwartz gutted out another WAC title, her first indoor, in the pole vault with a 3.91-meter jump.

Alyson Schwartz wins the pole vault and is now a 2️⃣✖️ WAC Champion, this her first indoor title! #LopesUp pic.twitter.com/qONTKJItLk
— GCU Track & XC (@GCU_TrackXC) February 23, 2019

Linnin Jr., won the high jump with a 2.03-meter jump as the Lopes went 1-2-3 in the event.

Carpenter won back-to-back heptathlon titles, with teammate Adam Turner finishing second.

These individual titles, paired with Friday's titles from junior Niki Xydona (pentathlon) and Okyere (weight throw), pushed GCU to its historic wins.

"I feel completely blessed to lead such incredibly talented student-athletes and coaches and to also work at such a tremendous educational institution as Grand Canyon," Flood said.