Regular season closes with 6 top-3 finishes in stacked meet

Saturday, April 29

Tucson, Ariz.

Grand Canyon

Desert Heat

Regular season closes with 6 top-3 finishes in stacked meet

4/30/2023 5:22:00 AM | Track and Field

Desert Heat Classic proves Lopes are battle-ready for WAC Championships

By: Nathan Peters

TUCSON, Ariz. - The Grand Canyon track and field team concluded the regular season Saturday against elite competition with numerous top-three finishes at the Desert Heat Classic.

"I thought we had a pretty good meet in Tucson, but the best news is that we kept everyone healthy as we will now focus on our conference championships in two weeks," GCU head coach Tom Flood said.

The Lopes' Keira Christie-Galloway was back in action after taking last week off. The graduate transfer took third in the 100-meter hurdles with a time 13.35 seconds, missing second place by just one-tenth of a second. Christie-Galloway sits 14^th in the West Region.

In the 800 meter, GCU senior Kelly Moodry placed third with a time of 2 minutes, 6.25 seconds, her fastest time this season.

"I was also impressed with true freshman Kaitlyn Kaye, who broke our freshman record in the 800 meters with a time of 2:10.3." Flood said.

Kaye's time is the third fastest in the WAC this season.

GCU's Ben Stratman ran just two-tenths off of the freshman record for the 400 with a time of 47.67.

In the 1500 meter, Therese Olshanski ran 4:24.97, placing third. That is the senior's fastest time with the Lopes and the third-fastest time in the WAC.

"Therese has been a wonderful addition to our team this year and continues to include her name in our school record book," Flood said. "This weekend she came close to breaking our school record in the 1,500 by running even better from her Mt. SAC time two weeks ago."

Sophomore Brooke Skoog won the women's 5,000 by 11 seconds, crossing the line with a time of 17:35.02.

"Brooke Weimer had another outstanding performance in the long jump," Flood said.

Weimer jumped 6.14 meters, which is her best on the year. The junior's mark was just two-hundredths of a meter off the 5-year-old school record.

Sticking with the jumpers, sophomore Jazmine Scott placed third in the triple jump. Scott's mark of 12.44 meters comes just one week after breaking a 10-year-old school record in the event.

"Mariano Hernandez ran an excellent time in the 200 meters," Flood said.

Hernandez, a senior, went 21.09 seconds in his last regular season meet.

Junior Evan Dudley tied for second in the pole vault competition at 4.97 meters.

"The performance that stood out the most to me was turned in by Camdyn Bruner in the 400 hurdles," Flood said of the junior. "Not only is she one of the top multi-eventers in our conference and has battled injuries all fall, but in only her second time ever running a very difficult technical event, she posted an excellent time of 1:01.98."

Full results from Desert Heat can be found here.

The Lopes will now look toward the WAC Outdoor Championships, where the men hope to complete a three-peat while the women seek their fifth title.

"We have positioned ourselves well to make a lot of noise at the WAC Outdoor Championships in Nacogdoches in two weeks," Flood stated.

The competition will begin May 11 at Stephen F. Austin.