GCU becomes 3rd program to win 5 consecutive titles
By: Makenna Pellerin
NAMPA, Idaho – The Grand Canyon men's track and field team completed a five-peat of WAC Indoor Men's Track and Field Championships titles on Saturday, pulling off a feat that only BYU and UTEP previously have done in the WAC.
"Our men's team has now won five indoor titles in a row — 'one for the thumb,' " GCU head coach Tom Flood said. "And after losing our very first WAC Indoor Championships by a single point seven years ago, it was special to pull this one out by 1.5 points in the final event (1,600-meter relay)." GCU men's 1,600-meter relay
Going into that final relay event, the Lopes men's team trailed by a half-point to Utah Valley. However, Ivan Zaharchenko, Alex Thomas, Damion Marshall and Bryson Benjamin relayed their way across the line 0.36 seconds ahead of Utah Valley, sliding themselves into second place and securing the conference championship for the men.
"We were led by the individual performances of Trey Johnson and Grant Carpenter, and the collective performances of our men sprinters (24 points in the 60-meter dash and 22 points in the 200), our throwers (20 points in shot put) and pole vaulters (20 points)," Flood said.
Johnson, a sophomore, was crowned Men's Outstanding Track Athlete after earning gold in the 60-meter dash (6.77 seconds) and 60-meter hurdles (7.88 seconds). The men's distance medley relay also took home gold with its GCU record-setting performance. The quartet ran the relay in 10 minutes and 13.59 seconds, which beat the previous school record of 10:19.27 set at this meet last year. The final individual title was earned by Carpenter, a senior, who was a repeat champion in the heptathlon.
In addition to Johnson's award, Flood was honored with Coach of the Year.
"I am also very proud of our women's second-place finish," Flood said. "We are a very young team and were a little banged up and ran into a very talented (New Mexico State) team, but our girls never quit and competed hard until the end."
The women's team had three individual champions, a WAC Championships record and medal sweeps in events.
"We were led by Niki Xydona in many events this weekend, including a one-two-three sweep in the pentathlon (24 points)," Flood said. "Both Alyson Schwartz and Madelyn Lundberg broke the WAC Championships meet record in the pole vault (4.16 meters) and had a one-two-three-four finish for an unbelievable 30 points, and then had a long jump title by Nicole Cristobal and 21 total points in the event." GCU pentathletes
Xydona, a senior, repeated as the pentathlon champion with Symone Wright-Flowers and Rees Young taking second and third, respectively, to sweep the medals for the event. Xydona also earned a silver in the long jump, bronze in the high jump and sixth place in the 60-meter hurdles. Xydona was recognized by the WAC as the Women's Outstanding Field Athlete.
There was a lot of purple on the podium for the pole vault event, but Schwartz pulled off the win against her teammates. Lundberg placed second, and Lily Standley and Megan Fry tied for third place to complete the medal sweep.
"We will enjoy the men's team title and all of our athletes' outstanding performances for a couple of days, and then get back to work next week to get even better during the outdoor season," Flood said.
The Lopes begin outdoor season on March 20 at the Willie Williams Classic in Tucson, Arizona.
