By: Lauren Mason
This past weekend, the SFU track and field team competed in the Sacramento State Invitational. On a beautiful sunny day, the conditions were perfect for one of the Clan’s first outdoor track and field meets of the season.
SFU took multiple runners to compete in the meet, and all did very well in their respective events. All of the athletes came home with good performances, however, some standout performances were those of the Clan’s Addy Townsend and Vladislav Tsygankov, both running great openers with times that will probably qualify them for the national tournament. These two will be returning this year after great performances last season as well.
Out of over 70 athletes, Townsend narrowly won the women’s 800-metre with a time of 2:08.55 even after being boxed in for the most of the race. With this time, she will then move to number one in the rankings.
Senior Tsygankov came back with a strong performance even after being away from the 400-metre for a few months. He won the race, beating many Division I athletes with a time of 52.21. This time moves him up to be ranked third; however, he just missed the automatic qualifying time which is 51.50.
Other athletes who competed well were underclassmen Nathan Mah, Renate Bluschke, and Aaron Ahl. Mah ran both the 100-metre and 200-metre finishing with a times of 11.01 and 22.60 respectively. Bluschke competing in the 200-metre with a time of 26.02, and the 400-metre finishing with a time of 57.84. Ahl finished the 1,500-metre with a personal best time of 3:58.87.
Coach Britt Townsend explained how “the season goes by quickly and we have to take advantage of every opportunity that is presented to us in order to qualify as many as possible for [the National Collegiate Athletic Association]. . .” And with a roster of over 60 people, that means going away to many meets around the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.
With the season continuing on, follow the Clan as they will be heading to Salem, Oregon next weekend and then to San Francisco the following weekend. Make sure to come out to see the Clan in action at home on the Terry Fox Field Saturday, April 7.
