Regular season began, ends at UA

The Grand Canyon track and field regular season comes to a close in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday at Arizona's Desert Heat Classic, where the Lopes bring a 22-meet streak of school records and four WAC-leading marks.

Ranked 11th in the country in the javelin, junior Jesse Newman holds the event's top mark in the WAC, as do sophomore Alexa Hokanson (800-meter run), junior Niki Xydona (heptathlon) and sophomore Madelyn Lundberg (pole vault) for their events.

Newman, Hokanson, Lundberg and four other Lopes currently sit inside the NCAA West Qualifying list. To make the NCAA West Preliminary Round, an individual must be among the top 48 athletes for their event. The other four potential GCU qualifiers are pole vaulter Alyson Schwartz, high jumper Chris Linnin Jr., and long jumpers Adrian King and Trey Johnson.

Freshman thrower Moataz Hassan enters with a three-week stint of school records in the shot put. Hassan has thrown the 16-pound ball of metal 16 meters or farther on five attempts in the past three weeks.

Newman has thrived late in competition the past two seasons. The junior threw his final throw of the 2018 WAC Championships the farthest to win the individual title and sneak into the NCAA West Preliminary Round. The then-sophomore also used his final throw at the NCAA West Preliminary Round to qualify for the NCAA Championships. At NCAAs in Eugene, Ore., Newman used his final throw of his flight to get into the finals. All of his "final" throws of 2018 resulted in a school record on his way to All-American second-team honors.

GCU started the outdoor season in Tucson at the Willie Williams Classic in March, sent eight Lopes to the Jim Click Shootout for the heptathlon and decathlon earlier this month and now conclude the regular season at Arizona.

The Lopes will see tough competition at the invite-only meet. Perennial power Oregon will send athletes to Tucson, along with Arizona State, Utah, Northern Arizona, New Mexico State, Cal State Northridge and UTEP.

The Lopes will begin competition at 2:30 p.m. Saturday with the women's hammer throw. Running events will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the 100-meter hurdles.

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Players Mentioned

Moataz Hassan

Alexa Hokanson

Trey Johnson

Adrian King

Chris Linnin Jr.

Madelyn Lundberg

Jesse Newman

Alyson Schwartz

Niki Xydona

Grand Canyon University Athletics