Lopes wrap up MW Outdoor Championships

Thursday, May 14

Fresno, Calif.

Grand Canyon

Mountain West

5/17/2026 9:34:00 AM | Track and Field

GCU's Rosario, Burkett, Moku bring home conference titles in 1st MW season

By: Tyler Killgore

CLOVIS, Calif. — Grand Canyon wrapped up its first Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field Championships with conference titles, podium finishes and program records across all three days at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The GCU men's team was able to grind out a fifth-place finish while the women's ended in ninth place.

Thursday: Lopes gain momentum in mid-distance prelims

The Lopes started Thursday with four throwing events. Senior Jacob Nash was the lone Lope to pick up points for the men's squad, finishing fourth in the javelin throw with a mark of 60.09 meters (197 feet, 1 inch).

In the the 800-meter run, GCU senior Germain Lemaitre had an incredible preliminary effort. The 800 school record holder secured the second qualifying spot in 1 minutes, 50.56 seconds.

Junior Miguel Rosario (200), senior Conner Kittleson (200) and senior Maria Sartin (400 hurdles) also all punched their tickets to compete for GCU in Saturday's finals.

Friday: GCU jumpers, pole vaulters earn points, titles

Friday belonged to the women's pole vault squad that gained massive points for the Lopes. The dynamic duo of juniors Tatum Moku and Eva Lowder dominated yet another Mountain West Championship.

Moku, who finished second at MW Indoors, secured her first Mountain West title by clearing a height of 4.38 meters (14 feet, 4 1/2 inches). This broke the GCU record previously set by her.

Lowder, the MW Indoors champion, was able to grind through a third-place finish at 4.13 meters (13 feet 6 1/2 inches). The duo combined to score 16 points for the Lopes.

In the men's long jump, sophomore Blake Heller and junior Praise Jibunor secured six points for GCU with finishes in fifth and seventh places, respecitvely

High jump was also a place where the Lopes were clawing to score. GCU junior Antoni Smith put up a top-three finish with a mark of 2.07 meters (6 feet, 9 1/2 inches). Jibunor also secured four points with his fifth-place finish.

The decathlon closed with freshman Cole Hagaman putting up a gritty fight as the sole Lopes partcipant. He finished fith wtih a decathlon score of 6,335 points, featuring top-three finishes in the shot put and 400-meter run.

On the track, GCU was able to advance a herd of sprinters, distance runners and a hurdler to their respective finals.

These included senior Amanda Thrue (100 hurdles), senior Jagger Zlotoff (1,500), graduate Taliyah Booker (400), senior Ben Stratman (400), sophomores Nina Thevenin (200) and Cassie Small (200), Rosario (100), Kittleson (100) and junior Jacob Holguin (100).

Saturday: Rosario takes 2 of Lopes' 3 titles

GCU senior Taryn Burkett started things off on championship Saturday by securing the women's triple jump title. The star, who holds the GCU record, jumped at a mark of 12.97 meters (42 feet, 6 3/4 inches).

The Lopes gaines more points in the jumps from sophomore Jezelle Santiago finishing seventh in the high jump at 1.66 meters (5 feet, 5 1/4 inches) and senior Godwin Charles and junior Gift Agbo packing a punch in the triple jump. Charles recorded a fourth-place triple jump of 14.86 meters (48 feet, 9 inches) with Agbo just behind him at 14.84 meters (48 feet, 8 1/4 inches).

The men's 4x100 relay team took second place in a tight race wit winner Utah State. Holguin, Rosario, Kittleson, and junior Dylan Poteat finished their silver-medal performance in 40.07 seconds.

On the women's side of the 4x100, Booker, sophomore Cassie Small, senior Hannah Smith and Thevenin picked up five points with a fourth-place time of 45.31.

The star of the show became Rosario, who shattered GCU's 100-meter reccord with a MW Championship-record time of 10.09, edging out second place by .004 of a second.

He then went on to win the 200-meter dash in dominant fashion with a time of 20.13 for another MW Championship record.

"I felt really confident going into the race," Rosario said. "Me and my coaches trusted the work I've been putting in. So at that point, it was all about executing."

Rosario also has been a huge representative for the Philippines track and field world.

"It means everything to me, being able to represent the Philippines is bigger than just track for me and really putting on for my family," Rosario said.

Other GCU top-three event finishes included the 110 hurdles (sophomore Francisco Marques taking second in 13.63), 800 meter (Lemaitre placing third in 1:49.41) and the men's 4x400 relay (sophomore Luca Cannizzo, freshman Ty Johnston, senior Michael Cunningham, and Lemaitre finishing third in 3:11.86).

Although the Lopes streak of winning a conference title since 2013 ends, head coach Tom Flood's program will send a large group to the NCAA West Regionals, which take place May 27-30 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.