NAMPA, Idaho – Individual titles by Western Washington University student-athletes Maddie Taylor in the high jump, Seren Dances in the long jump and J.T. Konrad in the pole vault highlighted the Vikings performances during the first day of the 2019 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships held Friday at the Jacksons Indoor Track and Sports Complex at the Ford Idaho Center.
 
In addition to the three individual titles, there were 10  new entries into the WWU Indoor Track & Field top-10 record book and 12 runners placed in the top eight in the prelims of their event to advance to Saturday's finals.
 
Through the first day of competition, the Viking men are in 2^nd place with 42 points, just two points behind first-place Alaska Anchorage, and the WWU women are in 4^th with 31 points, one point behind third-place Alaska Anchorage.
 

Men's Standings		Points	Women's Standings		Points
1.	Alaska Anchorage	44	1.	Seattle Pacific	54
2.	Western Washington	42	2.	Central Washington	53
3.	Central Washington	32	3.	Alaska Anchorage	32
4.	Northwest Nazarene	23.5	4.	Western Washington	31
5.	Saint Martin's	21.5	5.	Concordia	19
6.	Simon Fraser	13	6.	Simon Fraser	15
7.	Western Oregon	7	7.	Western Oregon	13
8.	Seattle Pacific	5	8.	Saint Martin's	9
9.	Concordia	4	9.	Northwest Nazarene	8
10.	Montana St. Billings	3	--	Montana St. Billings	0

 
"Today was a really good day for the Vikings. Great competition, great spirit and the team really performed well," said WWU's 32^nd-year head coach Pee Wee Halsell. "I am really proud of our three individual champions and how they performed, but overall it was a great team effort with several great performances. I am looking forward to tomorrow as we are looking to continue a great championships."
 
GNAC Indoor Championships Meet Information

• Day One Results
• Live Results
• Saturday Start List
• Meet Schedule
• Performance List
• Championships Central
• Meet Program

 
The two-day championships conclude Saturday with the heptathlon events starting at 8:45 am MT and the final races (4x400 relay) are scheduled to begin at 2:30 pm MT.
  Senior J.T. Konrad won the pole vault title, clearing 4.78m/15-8.25 on his second attempt, with Central Washington's Braydon Maier taking three attempts to clear the same height. Both athletes attempted 4.93m/16-2, but were unsuccessful giving Konrad WWU's ninth indoor pole vault title and first since a Viking won the title eight straight years from 2004-2011. Konrad joins Scott Romney (2004, 2006), Hunter Verner (2005), Tyler Thornbrue (2007) and Ryan Brown (2008-2011) as Vikings to win the GNAC Indoor Championships pole vault title. Freshman Christian Williams placed 8^th to earn one team point, setting a PR by clearing 4.18m/13-8.5.


  Junior Maddie Taylor won the women's high jump clearing 1.69m/5-6.5 to become the first Viking in the 16-year history of the GNAC Indoor Championships to win the event. Taylor entered the meet with the top mark in the conference and ranked No. 6 in NCAA Division II at 1.73m/5-8. Sophomore Heather Faretta made it a 1-2 sweep finishing 2^nd with a PR by clearing 1.64m/5-4.5, earning All-GNAC honors and picking up eight team points. Freshman Aliyah Dawkins finished 8^th at 1.59m/5-2.5 to round out the scoring that netted 19 points for the Vikings in the event.


  Redshirt freshman Seren Dances won the long jump setting a PR with a top mark of 7.02m/23-0.5, bring home 10 team points for the Vikings. The Port Townsend product became the second Viking to win the indoor long jump, and first since Kevin Yates in 2013-14. Freshman Ethan Sterkel recorded a massive PR of 6.97m/22-10.5 to finish 4^th and record the 6^th-best mark in WWU indoor history.


  Junior Sophia Galvez placed 2^nd in the women's 5,000m, finishing in 18:15.80 to earn All-GNAC honors. In the men's 5,000m, senior Dylan Hayes placed 6^th finishing in 15:16.90 to earn three team points.
  Sophomore Avery Lux placed 4^th in the weight throw to earn 5 team points, setting a PR at 16.32m/53-6.5. Lux remained fourth in WWU history while just missing out on All-GNAC honors.
  WWU's entries in the 4,000m Distance Medley Relay each moved up in the WWU all-time top 10, with the men placing 2^nd and the women 5^th in the final running event of the first day of the championships. The men's quartet of Liam Cossette, Mark Daniels, Macauley Franks and Colton Hoggarth finished in 10:19.33 for the 9^th-best time in program history. Simon Fraser won the race in a meet record 9:58.18. The women's DMR placed 5^th in 12:22.87 for the 8^th-best time in program history.
  WWU had three of the 14 entries in the 60m Hurdles, and all three are moving on to the finals after placing in the top 8. Junior Cordell Cummings (Lake Stevens, WA/Arlington) placed 2^nd in the qualifying in 8.42, 1/100^th behind Northwest Nazarene's Skyler Galgan. Cummings placed 3^rd at last year's GNAC Indoor Championships to earn First Team All-Conference honors. Freshman Koby Okezie was 5^th in 8.52 and redshirt freshman Seren Dances finished 6^th in 8.58.
  Junior Hannah Bradley set a PR while finishing 6^th in the 60m prelims in 7.84. Bradley moves on to Saturday's finals by besting her previous time of 7.86, moving her into a tie for 2^nd in the WWU indoor record book. In the men's 60m, freshman Koby Okezie made his collegiate debut in the race and finished 8^th in the prelims in 7.12.
  Freshman Mark Daniels finished 4^th in the prelims of the 400m setting a PR in 49.65, the 6^th-fastest time in WWU indoor history. He moves on to the finals, along with junior Cordell Cummings who clocked a PR of his own finishing 8^th in 50.12, the 11^th-fastest time in program history. Savannah Smith placed 7^th in the prelims of the women's 400m in 58.05.
  Sophomore Shawnee Konrad celebrated her birthday by qualifying 5^th in the 800m prelims, recording a PR and the 4^th-fastest time in WWU indoor history at 2:17.95. She bested her previous top mark of 2:23.25 set as a freshman. Senior Kyler Sager also qualified 5^th in the men's 800m, finishing in a time of 1:55.17. Sager finished 4^th at last year's GNAC Championships, just outside of earning all-conference honors.
  Freshman Ian Rinefort is in 7^th place out of 10 competitors after the first four events of the men's heptathlon. Rinefort, who set the WWU indoor record with 4,805 points at the Candy Cane XI meet earlier this season, has 2,522 points with three events remaining. Rinefort excelled in the high jump, tying for 2^nd clearing 1.83m/6-0, and will be looking to move up the leaderboard as a strong second-day scorer. Freshman Cooper Cummings is in 9^th place with 2,289 points. Central Washington's Kodiak Landis, a two-time First Team All-American in the event, holds a 106-point lead with 2,825 points.
  Freshman Aliyah Dawkins finished 10^th in the women's pentathlon setting a PR with 2,767 points. She remains No. 6 in WWU indoor history after tallying 2,704 points at the season-opening Candy Cane XI in Cheney, Washington Nov. 30-Dec. 1. Seattle Pacific's Scout Cai repeated as the GNAC Indoor pentathlon champion with a championships record 3,815 points.
  The following are additional highlights by WWU student-athletes during the first day of competition at the 2019 GNAC Indoor Track & Field Championships:
 

• Savannah Smith – Qualified for the finals in two events, finishing 7^th in the 400m (58.05) and 4^th in the 200m (25.33).
• Kyler Sager – Advanced to the finals in the 800m qualifying 5^th in 1:55.17.
• Bryan Welch – Advanced to the finals in the 200m smashing his PR finishing 3^rd in 22.17…previous best in the 200m was 22.34 at last year's GNAC Indoor Championships.
• Myles Smith – Placed 8^th in the prelims of the 200m to advance to Saturday's finals (22.56).

  WWU has had 35 new entries into the program's indoor top 10 record book this season, with 19 by the men and 16 by the women. The Vikings had 10 new entries during the first day of the GNAC Indoor Championships, including junior sprinter Hannah Bradley moving into a tie for 2^nd in Friday's prelims of the 60m finishing in 7.84 and sophomore Shawnee Konrad clocked the 4^th-fastest time in the 800m in 2:17.95.
 

• WWU Indoor Record Book
• GNAC Indoor Top 10 Marks – Men
• GNAC Indoor Top 10 Marks – Women