BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- The Western Washington University track & field program returns to action Friday and Saturday at the University of Washington Ken Shannon Invitational, marking the last meet on the schedule prior to the GNAC Outdoor Championships.

The Ken Shannon Invitational, hosted at Husky Track in Seattle, Washington, features the hammer throw and women's javelin on Friday while the majority of events will take place Saturday.

The Vikings had three competitors in action at the GNAC Combined Event Championships on Monday and Tuesday, and travel to Western Oregon University for the GNAC Outdoor Championships on May 11-12. The NCAA II Championships will take place in North Carolina from May 24-26.

Ken Shannon Invitational

After competing at four meets hosted by UW during the indoor season, the Vikings return to the facility for the first time during the outdoor season.

The women's javelin starts at 1:30 pm on Friday and is followed by the men's hammer (3:30 pm) and women's hammer (5:30 pm). Saturday field events will begin at 10 am and continue into the late afternoon. Track events start at 12 pm on Saturday and the last scheduled event is set for 3:45 pm. There will not be live results, but compiled results will be posted as soon as possible to WWUVikings.com.

Last year at the Ken Shannon Invitational, senior Anna Paradee (Tacoma, WA/Decatur) set the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and school pole vault record with a mark of 4.01m (13-1 ¾), which was a 2017 NCAA II automatic-qualifying mark.

Meet Details:
Event: Ken Shannon Invitational
Site: Seattle, WA (Husky Track)
Date: May 4-5, 2018

• Meet Information Page
• Heat Sheets

LAST WEEK

WWU claimed a pair of team victories last Saturday at the 37th Annual Ralph Vernacchia Track & Field Meet, hosted at Civic Stadium in Bellingham. Among the performances was a provisional-qualifying mark by senior Brandon Pless (Sedro-Woolley, WA) in the hammer throw.

The WWU men totaled 184 points to place first of 23 teams, with Central Washington in 2nd at 113 points and Olympic College in 3rd with 50 points. The WWU women finished with 147.5 points to place 1st of 19 teams, ahead of CWU in 2nd (117 points) and the University of British Columbia in 3rd (61 points).

Pless won the hammer with a mark of 54.95m (180-3) to become the 10th WWU competitor to record a provisional mark during the outdoor season. The effort ranks 5th in the GNAC and 44th nationally.

Junior Alex Barry (Sequim, WA) won the javelin with a throw of 60.87m (199-8) while junior Tupre Wickliff (Vancouver, WA/Evergreen/Clark College) led a 1-2 finish for the Vikings in the high jump at a height of 1.98m (6-6).

Junior Kyler Sager (Snohomish, WA/Everett CC) won the 800m in a time of 1:53.26 to lead a 1-2-3 WWU finish while the WWU 4x400m relay team of freshman Sonny Chhim (Kelso, WA), sophomore Cordell Cummings (Arlington, WA), Sager and freshman Myles Smith (Puyallup, WA) placed 1st of 8 teams in a time of 3:21.74.

For the WWU women, junior Emily Sytsma (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian/Concordia) won the 100m in a personal-best time of 12.43 to lead a 1-2 WWU finish. She also placed 10th in the 200m (26.11) and helped the WWU 4x400m relay team, along with freshman Shawnee Konrad (Mead, WA/Mount Spokane), freshman Isabella Foos (Olympia, WA/Tumwater) and junior Savannah Smith (Renton, WA), to place 2nd of six teams with a season-best time relay time for WWU in 3:57.97.

Sytsma's performances earned her the GNAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week honor, announced Monday. She became the fourth Viking to earn a GNAC weekly honor this season, and first to earn the GNAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week award for WWU since Katelyn Steen in 2015.

Junior Maddie Taylor (Seattle, WA/Auburn Mountainview/Montana) won the high jump at a mark of 1.63m (5-4 ¼) while sophomore Chanelle Eddy (Bellingham, WA/Sehome/Whitworth) won the discus with a mark of 42.19m (138-5).

The Vikings also won the 4x100m relay as the WWU team of sophomore Kelsey McLean (Kirkland, WA/Juanita), freshman Emily Greene (Spokane, WA/Lewis and Clark), Foos, and sophomore Alana Austin (Oak Harbor, WA) placed 1st in a two-team race against Olympic College with a time of 50.08.

Click to view a recap and results from last Saturday at the Ralph Vernacchia Meet.

GNAC COMBINED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIPS

Freshman Seren Dances (Port Townsend, WA) placed 8th to lead three Vikings competing in the decathlon at the GNAC Combined Event Championships, held Monday and Tuesday at Brian and Nichole Bohner Track on the campus of Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho.

Dances, who won the long jump with a personal-best and program top-10 mark of 7.10m (23-3 ½), finished with 6,071 points to claim the final scoring place and earn one team point toward the WWU men's team score at the GNAC Outdoor Championships. Sophomore Nick Makrakis (Concord, CA/Northgate) finished 11th with a personal-best score of 5,761 points while junior Rudy Mataya (Burlington, WA/Burlington-Edison) totaled 3,121 points during day one of the championships before an injury kept him from competing during the second day of events.

Click to view a full recap and results from the GNAC Combined Event Championships.

AMONG THE RANKED

The WWU women are ranked No. 32 in the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national rankings and have been among the top 25 multiple weeks during the season. The WWU men are No. 78 nationally and No. 7 in the West Region, while the women rank No. 12 in the region.

BY THE NUMBERS

The Vikings have added 24 marks currently on the outdoor WWU top-10 lists (14 for the women, 10 for the men) during the season.

WWU also has 58 marks ranking among the top 10 in the GNAC (34 for the men, 24 for the women) during the season, including 24 among the top five (15 for the men, nine for the women), with five GNAC-leading performances. Click to view the GNAC performance lists.

Through nine weeks of the outdoor season, 10 Vikings have recorded provisional-qualifying marks -- five for the women and five for the men. Five of the provisional-qualifying marks are in the javelin (three on the women's side, two on the men's side) and two are in the high jump. The Vikings also have provisional-qualifying marks in the 800m by Kyler Sager, pole vault from 2017 All-American Anna Paradee and hammer throw by Brandon Pless.

GNAC HONORS

WWU has been honored with six GNAC weekly awards during the outdoor season, including three honors for Raquel Pellecer.

• GNAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week (March 5): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
• GNAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week (March 12): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
• GNAC Women's Field Athlete of the Week (April 2): Raquel Pellecer (So., Sandy, OR/Portland State)
• GNAC Men's Field Athlete of the Week (March 12): Alex Barry (Jr., Sequim, WA)
• GNAC Men's Track Athlete of the Week (March 12): Bryant Welch (Fr., Burien, WA/Mount Rainier)
• GNAC Women's Track Athlete of the Week (April 30): Emily Sytsma (Jr., Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian/Concordia)

COACH HALSELL

Head coach Pee Wee Halsell is in his 31st year at the helm for WWU as the longest tenured coach in WWU history. He has received 33 Coach of the Year honors with 26 league honors, five regional honors, one district honor and one area honor. Halsell has coaches 10 national champions with 95 Vikings earning All-America honors in track and 30 in cross country, along with numerous scholar-athletes in both track & field and cross country.

COMING UP

WWU travels to the GNAC Outdoor Championships next week, held May 11-12 at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon. The NCAA II Championships take place May 24-26 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

THE 2018 SCHEDULE

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