Lopes ready for thrilling WAC Championships Saturday

Photo by: Nathan Peters

5/11/2023 10:20:00 PM | Track and Field

Field, steeplechase set stage for GCU in track finals at SFA

By: Nathan Peters

NACODOCHES, Texas — The Grand Canyon track and field squad put itself in perfect position to make a run at WAC Outrdoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday.

The GCU men's and women's teams each are in second place after two days of action, with the Lopes women only trailing leader Utah Valley by one point (40-39) while the men are four points back of the Wolverines (40-36).

The women's heptathlon resulted in 14 points for the Lopes with Summer Grubbs earning a silver medal while Camdyn Bruner got the bronze. Grubbs had 5,255 points and Bruner had 5,034.

In the men's decathlon, GCU's Aidan Diggs placed second with teammate Patrick Nelson placing fourth. Diggs' 7,058 points moved him to second all-time in GCU history while Nelson's 6,983 is an improvement on his No. 3 all-time ranking. The Lopes' men added 13 points to the team's score as a result.

In the men's hammer, GCU's Andrew Wells and Oscar Rodriguez placed second and fifth, respectively, in the finals' flight. The 56.8- and 54.3-meter marks tacked on 12 more team points for the day.

The Lopes' Brooke Weimer won silver in the long jump with a mark of 6.17 meters while senior teammate Mia Corners tied her season-best mark twice (5.98 meters) to place sixth.

GCU's Alyssa Walls took fourth in the hammer throw with a mark of 56.33 meters.

"Alyssa has been a textbook case of consistency all season in this event," Lopes head coach Tom Flood said.

Coming in No. 10 in the regular season, Max Myers was not expected to place, but the GCU senior put up a 15.48-meter shot put to place sixth and get three critical points for the team.

In her first competitive steeplechase in two years, Therese Olshanski placed fifth and moved to No. 4 all-time for GCU with a time of 10 minutes, 42.61 seconds.

In the men's side,GCU's Jacob Pringle and Cannon Angotti placed seventh and eighth, respectively, to garner three more important points. Pringle's time of 9:14.43 moves him to third all-time.

Keira Christie-Galloway did what she has become known to do and broke the Lopes record again with a wind-legal time of 13.22 seconds. Amanda Thrue ran the second-fastest time in GCU history with a mark of 13.67 seconds. Both advanced to the final, which will take place Saturday.

In a stacked men's 800-meter race, GCU's Jarron Stevens and Alex Rafferty advanced to the finals.

"Jarron (1:49.34) broke both our school record and freshman record and Alex (1:51.34) again shows he has great track and field knowledge of his events," Flood said.

The Lopes' Mariano Hernandez and Erin Brown both advanced in the men's 400 with Hernandez running the No. 2 time in school history at 46.61 seconds.

GCU senior Kyle De Moica took the fastest qualifying time in the 100-meter dashes and will be joined by freshman Conner Kittleson who took the fastest qualifying time in the 200m in both finals Saturday.

"We have positioned ourselves to continue to make a lot of noise tomorrow," Flood said.

Live results can be found here, finals can be broadcast here.

Day 1 recap

The Grand Canyon track and field team is off to a promising start after morning weather delays on the first day of the WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

The women's hammer was delayed because of major flooding at Stephen F. Austin. Luckily, GCU is used to having a (Tom) Flood at practice every day.

After delaying the start of the men's decathlon and women's heptathlon, the Lopes got the action started with Aidan Diggs winning the 100-meter dash and Summer Grubbs winning the 100 hurdles.

Through five events in the decathlon, Diggs sits in third while teammate Patrick Nelson is in fifth.

In the heptathlon, Grubbs is second and GCU teammate Camdyn Bruner is in third.

The men's javelin brought crucial points, taking a total of 15 for the Lopes. Despite an injury to Marten Gasparini resulting in a fourth-place finish, freshmen Walter Moffett and Jacob Nash placed second and seventh, respectively.

Women's pole vault also earned points for the Lopes with Jaida Olson and Amy Madsen each placing.

The men's 200 preliminaries had four Lopes advance to the finals, which will take place Saturday. Freshman Conner Kittleson had the fastest time while junior Erin Brown and senior Kyle De Moica were the second and third fastest, respectively. Senior Mariano Hernandez advanced to the finals.

In the women's 1,500 preliminary, Lopes freshman Kaitlyn Kaye advanced as well as teammate Brooke Skoog.

In the men's 400 hurdles, the Lopes sit in second and fifth after the preliminary heats. Matthew Howard advanced with a time of 54.07 while freshman Jonathan Dixon has a personal-best time of 54.52.

The action will pick up again Friday and finish Saturday in Nacogdoches, Texas.