The Clan opened the outdoor track and field season at the UBC Open with a strong showing. A total of five athletes earned automatic invitations to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship later in April.
On the men’s side, the long jump was heavily dominated by SFU, as two athletes reached the qualifying standard for the GNAC championship (6.86 metres). Topping the leaderboard with the longest jump was Vladislav Tsygankov with a jump of 7.37 metres. Vladis Moldavanov’s jump of 7.15 metres, Jerry He’s 6.85 metres, and Andy Vo’s 6.78 metres all met the GNAC provisional qualifying standards.
The Clan almost swept the competition, with three other SFU jumpers placing just outside the top five, finishing sixth through eighth place.
“All four jumps were personal bests, they were all great jumps and I’m just hoping to continue seeing improvement,” comments head coach Brit Townsend. “Long jump was the most exciting result of the weekend.”
Moldavanov also qualified for the GNAC championship jumping a total of 14.48 metres in the triple jump event, .19 above second place.
The SFU women found similar success. Monique Lisek won the women’s 400 metre hurdles with a time of 1:02.01, along with a second-place finish in the long jump. Ella Brown also earned a first-place finish in the triple jump event at 11.52 metres. While Lisek topped the NCAA provisional qualifying standard, Brown’s jump was enough to qualify her for the GNAC championship. In addition to their wins, Lisek and Brown also ran the 200 metre dash, finishing third and fifth.
The first outdoor event kickstarts what hopes to be an exciting season for the Clan.
“After our indoor season, I’m pretty excited to be headed to outdoors,” said coach Townsend. “It’s a great way to kick off the season, to see where we are in training and our preparation for higher level meets coming this weekend.”
In Seattle, at the Spring Break Open, Ryley Carr finished second in the women’s hammer throw event with an average distance of 43.77 metres, while Selina Byer won the women’s javelin throw with a winning average of 42.22 metres. Joining the two women in Seattle, Peter Behncke finished second in the men’s hammer throw along with two fifth-place finishes by Jacob Karamanian and Sam Humphreys in the men’s javelin throw and pole vault, respectively.
Kansas Mackenzie and Miryam Bassett placed third and fourth respectively in the women’s 1,500 metre event, while Bryce West placed third in the women’s 400 metre dash.
Joel Webster ran a 21.98 while Daniel Kelloway ran a time of 22.21, earning the men second and fourth place finishes in the men’s 200 metre dash, while Hameet Dhillon and Stuart Ellenwood earned third and fourth place in the men’s 400 metre dash.
SFU also dominated the 1,500 metre run. Led by Max Trummer, the Clan claimed the first six spots of the leaderboard that included Lorenzo Smith, Brendan Wong, Ephraim Tadesse, Mateo de Dalmases, and Dylan Freinhofer, respectively.
For coach Townsend, the team’s victory is a sign for the Clan to really step it up. “The training is done and we’re prepared, we just need to get some good weather to go out there. We’re ready.”
