It was a stellar showing for the Clan in Birmingham, Alabama, where the team achieved a top 10 finish at an indoor event for the first time.
Over Friday and Saturday, the team tallied a total of 24 points, 18 of them coming from women’s events.
Once again, SFU’s most impressive athlete was senior Lindsey Butterworth, who obtained her individual title in the 800-metre event in Saturday’s finals. On Friday, Butterworth anchored the distance meter relay finals and made up enough ground on her opponents to grab second place along with Jennifer Johnson, Chantel Desch, and Paige Nock.
With a total time of 11:28.28, the women set a new school record and also broke the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) record set by Seattle Pacific University in 2010.
Johnson became one of four women to make history in the 3000-metre event, breaking a 30-year-old record. Her time of 9:26.82 puts her second in all-time GNAC history, and earned her a third-place finish.
The men’s team was not without its share of excitement, as Travis Vugteveen became SFU’s first male athlete to enter into the NCAA Division II finals for the 1500-metre event, eventually placing sixth.
Needless to say, the Clan made a tremendous impact, and head coach Brit Townsend felt that everyone involved has gone above and beyond the expectations.
“I’m really excited, everybody here ran personal bests or ran way higher than they were ranked,” said Townsend.
“To have a champion in Lindsey [Butterworth] as well, we really couldn’t have asked for any more with the small group we have.”
Townsend said that her team’s results were a reflection of previous results, and training that led to the indoor championships.
“They were focused from the very beginning on getting here and performing well. The [GNAC] conference championships were very successful for us as well,” she noted. “I think the team is gaining the confidence and starting to believe that they can compete at this level.”
One thing’s for sure: these endeavours by the Clan have started a trend of a setting the bar higher in each competition, and anticipation is high among the organization for what is yet to come.
