Lopes women win 6th of last 8 WAC indoor titles

Monday, February 19

Albuquerque, N.M.

Grand Canyon

WAC Indoor Championships

Photo by: Nathan Peters

2/20/2024 10:30:00 PM | Track and Field

High Point Award winners McCartney, Howard put on show for GCU

By: Nathan Peters

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Grand Canyon women's track and field team reclaimed the WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships title after a fantastic performance secured the Lopes' sixth title in the last eight tries.

"It was certainly a wild ride at this year's WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships," Lopes head coach Tom Flood said. "I'm thrilled to have our Lady Lopes back winning the team title."

"As with any championship, it is always a total team effort, but Neysia Howard put on a show the last two days, and I feel truly blessed to be her coach. As amazing of an athlete she is, she is an even better person and her leadership on this team has been invaluable."

GCU becomes the first program to claim six WAC women's indoor track and field titles in an eight-year stretch since BYU won seven in eight years from 1991 to 1999.

Howard started her High Point Award performance by winning the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.37 seconds, following that with a win in the 200 (23.46) set a school and WAC record. The Tucson native also anchored the second-place 4x400 relay to clinch the title for the team. At the end of the day, Howard was responsible for 32 points over the weekend. nesyia with awards

"Onome Ogbeni came up big for us today in winning the shot put," Flood said.

Ogbeni threw a 14.65-meter mark to clinch 10 points for the Lopes.

Jazmine Scott (12.52 meters) and Taryn Burkett (12.48) finished second and third in the triple jump for a huge 14 points.

"Amanda Thrue gutted through the 60-meter hurdle final with a bad hamstring and finished third, picking up a valuable six points," Flood said.

Joanna Archer and true freshman Zoe Rich added a clutch nine points in the 800 meters.

"I'm truly impressed with our super talented senior, Summer Grubbs," Flood said. "She had a tough weekend but stepped-up big time to help lead off our meet clinching 4x400 meter relay. She is the epitome of a total team player."

The Lopes men took second in the conference, snapping the seven-year indoor championship streak.

"It just wasn't our guys' meet this year," Flood said. "We had a really tough injury right away this weekend and added several other disappointing performances across the board, but I'm not sure any of that would have mattered as Southern Utah had an outstanding meet."

Southern Utah placed first with 171 points, winning its first WAC title.

The GCU men's second-place finish was led by a very strong effort, thanks to Daviciea McCartney's 22.5 points.

daviciea getting interviewed

"I'm always impressed with Daviciea, whether it's at practice or in a meet, but today he truly showed his amazing talents," Flood said. "He ran away with the 60-meter hurdles, and within 20 minutes of that victory, blazed to the 400-meter title with a school-record time of 46.59 seconds."

McCartney sat out last season after transferring. The junior left it all on the line for the hat trick of medals.

"I gave him a full two-hour break after the 400 meter," Flood said jokingly. "Daviciea then anchored our 4x400 relay team to a thrilling victory in a WAC Championships record time of 3:08.96."

The relay also included sophomore Ben Stratman, sophomore Conner Kittleson, graduate student James Smith II and McCartney.

"I'm proud that our guys fought hard all the way to the final event, and I know they will use this weekend's loss as motivation heading into the outdoor season," Flood said. "Our guys will be a much stronger team outdoors."

Full results from the weekend can be found here.

Day 1

The Grand Canyon track and field team concluded the first day of the WAC Indoor Track and Field Championships with a lead on the women's scoreboard Monday while the men have ground to make up.

"While it was nice to spend President's Day at our Oval Office, we had quite an eventful day today at the WAC Indoor Championships," Lopes head coach Tom Flood said.

GCU began the day with senior Camdyn Bruner returning from a torn medial collateral ligament injury suffered during the summer to finish fifth in the pentathlon.

"Neysia Howard was fantastic today and put herself in a great position to contend for the High Point Award," Flood said.

Howard went 23.69 seconds in the 200-meter preliminary heat Monday to take the top qualifying spot for the final Tuesday. The graduate student also took first place in the long jump with a personal record of 6.13 meters.

"Amanda Thrue was great today in her 60-meter hurdles prelim, she also had a huge personal best in the long jump," Flood said.

Thrue ran the 60 in 8.44 seconds before altitude adjustment and will compete in the final Tuesday afternoon. The junior went 5.90m to take fourth in the women's long jump.

The GCU men's pole vaulters took second, third and fourth places with Eric Cabais-Fernandez, Jack Hodge, and Grant Hagaman, respectively. Hagaman had a personal best with a mark of 5.22 meters. In addition, senior Brian Kennedy placed sixth for the Lopes.

"We faced some adversity early with Erin Brown coming in a little banged up before the meet began," Flood said.

Brown attempted to run the 60, but he aggravated an injured hamstring and did not compete in the 200, which could result in a loss of up to 16 points.

GCU's Daviciea McCartney finished with the fastest time in the men's 60 hurdles preliminaries with a 7.75-second race. In addition, the junior qualified for Tuesday's 400 final.

Lopes freshman Regan Parnell had a great performance in the women's pole vault, taking first place in her first conference championship meet.

The GCU men's throwers reeled in five more points than projected in the weight throw. Andrew Wells (third) and Oscar Rodriguez (fourth) threw 18.04 meters and 17.7 meters, respectively.

More adversity struck for the Lopes when the women's distance medley relay appeared to place first but due to an unfortunate impeding call by an official, GCU was disqualified. Despite the call, the women still ended the day leading with 55 points.

"While it's always nice to have a lead after the first day, it's not necessarily how you start, but how you finish," Flood said. "Both of our teams will finish strong and battle until the last event."