Okyere breaks GCU discus record

Saturday, April 27

Tucson, Ariz.

2:30 p.m.

Grand Canyon

Desert Heat Classic

Senior jumper Tony Crosby takes off in Tucson

Photo by: Fletcher Like

Multi eventer Karl Zuber runs down the long jump runway

Photo by: Fletcher Like

Photo by: Fletcher Like

Freshman thrower Jorden Okyere gets ready to throw discus.

Photo by: Fletcher Like

Senior Adrian King gets the slow clap going.

Photo by: Fletcher Like

Paige Hildebrant goes over the water barrier in the steeplechase.

Photo by: Fletcher Like

4/27/2019 10:34:00 PM | Track and Field

Results Photo Gallery

Lopes set over 10 personal records in Tucson

By: Fletcher Like

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Grand Canyon track and field team wrapped up its regular season Saturday at Arizona's Desert Heat Classic, where a school record from freshman discus thrower Jorden Okyere sent GCU to the WAC Championships with a streak of 23 straight meets that featured a tied or broken program record.

Okyere broke the school mark early in the meet during the second men's event. The freshman's throw of 49.55 meters broke his previous school best of 47.79 meters.

Lope performances rose to the level of competition with some of the nation's best athletes in attendance in Tucson. In the women's 100-meter dash, Naudia Dawson ran 11.82 seconds, a personal record that makes her the third seed third for the WAC Championships in two weeks.

In the 400-meter run, sophomore sprinters Knowledge Omovoh and Dora Filipovic ran personal-best times. Omovoh ran 53.83, finishing fourth, and Filipovic ran 54.13 to place sixth. It was the first time Filipovic had run a sub-55 time in the 400. The sophomores will take the first- and fourth-best conference times into the WAC Championships.

In the pole vault, sophomore Madelyn Lundberg jumped an outdoor personal record of 4.07 meters. Lundberg and fellow sophomore Alyson Schwartz both cleared 3.97 meters but missed all three attempts at 4.07, forcing a jump off. Lundberg cleared 4.07 to win the meet and rank second all-time in GCU history, missing the school record by 1 centimeter.

In the 800, GCU freshman Jacob Lewis ran a personal-record 1:54.17, which ranks seventh in the WAC. The Lopes will bring the second-, sixth- and seventh-fastest conference times in the 800 to the WAC meet in Orem, Utah.

In a loaded field with two professional hurdlers, senior Sarah Root ran a career-best time of 13.85 in the 100-meter hurdles.

In the men's long jump, senior Adrian King jumped 7.54 meters, the farthest he has jumped in a GCU uniform, to move himself up in the descending order list for the NCAA West Preliminary Round.

Sophomore Nicole Cristobal had her biggest jump of her career in the triple jump, bounding over 11.73 meters.

Sophomore Anthony Stennis ran sub-53 in the 400-meter hurdles, a personal record and fifth all-time in GCU history.

Freshman Samaria McDonald threw the third-best hammer throw in school history at 52.32 meters.

A day full of personal records and another school record will carry the Lopes into the WAC Championships, where the squad will look to win back-to-back outdoor team titles for the first time ever. GCU is the four-time defending champions for men's and women's indoor but have not won consecutive outdoor titles for either gender since joining the conference.

Utah Valley will host the WAC Championships on May 9-11.