SEATTLE, Wash. – Western Washington University sophomore Seren Dances crossed the 5,000-point mark while placing 5th in the heptathlon to highlight the Vikings performances on Saturday at the UW Invitational at Dempsey Indoor.
Competing in the two-day multi-event for the second straight weekend, Dances recorded personal-best marks in five of the seven events to record 5,069 points. He not only set the WWU record by 264 points, but became just the seventh athlete in Great Northwest Athletic Conference history to reach the 5,000-point mark in the event. He also established an NCAA II provisional qualifying mark, going above the standard of 4,760 points.
The sophomore out of Port Townsend started the second day of competition earning 872 points in the 60m hurdles, setting a PR and moving up to 9th in WWU history with a time of 8.45. He flourished in his two toughest events, setting a PR in the pole vault clearing 3.90m/12-9.5 for 590 points and came home with a PR in the 1,000m finishing in 2:58.65.
Dances joins WWU sophomore multi-athlete Aliyah Dawkins on setting school records at the UW Invitational. Dawkins established the WWU pentathlon record with 3,310 points in Friday's competition. All told the Vikings made 13 new entries into the WWU Indoor Track & Field Top 10 Record Book.
GREENWALT HITS BLISTERING MARK IN 60m PRELIMS
Freshman Ryan Greenwalt qualified for the finals in the 60m with a personal-best time of 7.03, tied for the 6th-fastest time in program history. The freshman out of Kirkland placed 7th overall clocking 7.10 in the finals. Former Viking All-American Alex Donigian won the 60m final in 6.77.
400m RUNNERS CLOCK SOLID TIMES
Juniors Bryant Welch and Myles Smith both ran sub-50 seconds in the 400m to place in the top 15 out of 28 runners in the 400m. Welch just missed his PR finishing 7th in 49.04 (currently 2nd in WWU history in 49.01) and Smith moved up one spot to 7th in the WWU indoor record book with a time of 49.66 to finish 14th.
LUX SETS PR IN WEIGHT THROW
Junior Avery Lux set a PR in the weight throw, placing 14th with a throw of 16.46m/54-0 to maintain his No. 4 spot in WWU history. Senior Bryan Lee placed 6th in the 21-competitor field with a throw of 17.36m/56-11.5.
MALQUIST EQUALS PR IN SHOT PUT
Junior Ben Malquist placed 10th out of 17 throwers in the shot put, tying his personal-best mark of 15.29m/50-2 to remain at No. 7 in the WWU all-time top 10.
WWU is back in action traveling to Oregon for the two-day Portland Track & Field meet. The event will be split between Newberg, Oregon on the campus of George Fox University on Friday for the field events and at the Chiles Center on the University of Portland campus on Saturday.
