Friday's complete results (PDF)

NAMPA, Idaho – After two second-place finishes, a third place, and a fourth place, Nate Johnson figured he was only close to the lead in the heptathlon at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.

Wrong. The Seattle Pacific sophomore is in the lead.

It isn't by much. And the guy behind him is a top-caliber multi-event athlete. But Johnson certainly likes his position heading into Saturday's final three events at Jackson's Track in the Idaho Sports Complex.

With the pole vault, the 60-meter hurdles and the 1,000-meter run still to go, Johnson (Boise, Idaho) has a seven-point edge on Western Oregon senior Andy Loscutoff, 2,497-2,490.

“After the high jump, I went into the training room, and I knew it was close,” Johnson said. “I thought I was sitting in second, then I found out I was a little bit ahead.

“That was nice to find out.” 

The meet resumes on Saturday at 8 a.m. PST. Live stats will be available on this link. A free, live Webcast begins at 10 a.m. PST and can be seen on this link.

In fact, Loscutoff won the first three events on Friday. He out-leaned Johnson in their heat of the 60-meter dash, 7.48 to 7.50, picking up 719 points while Johnson settled for 713. (Johnson's time was a PR by .07.)

Then, Johnson tied his PR of 19 feet, 8¼ inches (6.00 meters) in the long jump to take third with 587 points. Loscutoff won at 20-10½ / 6.13 meters for 615 points. Johnson was fourth in the shot put at 35-6¾ / 10.84 meters, an event Loscutoff won at 40-1½ / 12.23 meters. Loscutoff outscored Johnson in that one, 620-536.

Johnson finished the day by clearing a personal-best 6-0½ / 1.84 meters in the high jump for 661 points. That's where he edged in front of Loscutoff, who was fifth at 5-6½ / 1.69 meters for 536 points.

“High jump was definitely a big one today,” Johnson said. “I knew going in that Andy, who was in first at the time, was kind of hit or miss, and I was kind of worried about it coming in. I ended up with a PR, and that was awesome.”

While is probably will come down to Johnson and Loscutoff on Saturday, others aren't entirely out of the picture. Bryan Beatty of Northwest Nazarene is third with 2,382 points, and Andrew Venema of Central Washington is fourth with 2,290.

“Pole vault is the one I'm most excited for. I know I'll do well in that,” said Johnson, who went a personal-best 13-7¾ (4.16 meters) in the season-opening UW Indoor Preview on Jan. 15. “I haven't hurdled for a long time, and Andy is really a good hurdler. (Loscutoff went 8.71 in Friday's 60-meter hurdles prelims, making him the fourth seed for Saturday's finals in that individual event.) And my 1,000 is OK. I hope I'll be at a point where I know what kind of time I have to run to win.”

Falcon sophomore Ryan Endresen (Portland, Ore.) posted a personal-best time of 8.68 in the 60 hurdles preliminaries on Friday, and will be third-seeded for Saturday's finals. The man to beat is Central Washington's Andrew Hogan, who went 8.46.

SPU's only scoring on Friday came from a seventh-place finish in the 4,000-meter distance medley relay, worth two points. 

NCAA MEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD

GNAC Championships

Friday, February 18, 2011

Jackson's Track at Idaho Sports Complex/Nampa, Idaho

 

Team scores (through 4 of 16 events) – 1, Western Washington 40; 2, Western Oregon 36.33; 3, Central Washington 29.33; 4, Northwest Nazarene 20.33; 5, Simon Fraser 19; 6, Montana State Billings 5; 7, Saint Martin's 4; 8, Seattle Pacific 2.

 

4000 distance medley relay – 1, Simon Fraser 10:05.58 (meet record, breaks old record of 10:18.80 set by Western Washington in 2010). SPU placer – 7, Seattle Pacific (Evan Bradford, Nate Sleight, Dustin Bratten, Jacob Wahlenmaier) 10:38.84.

High jump – 1, Brandon Roddewig (CWU) 6-4 ¾ / 1.95m. No SPU competitors.

Long jump – 1, Kyle Lane (WOU) 23-4 ½ / 7.12m. No SPU competitors.

Shot put – 1, Jason Slowey (WOU) 52-8 / 16.05m. No SPU competitors.

Heptathlon (through 4 of 7 events) – 1, Nate Johnson (SPU) 2,497; 2, Andy Loscutoff (WOU) 2.490. No other SPU competitors.

Heptathlon 60-meter dash – 1, Loscutoff (WOU) 7.48 (719 points). SPU placer – 2, Johnson 7.50 (713 points).

Heptathlon long jump – 1, Loscutoff 20-1 ½ / 6.13m (615 points). SPU placer – 3, Johnson 19-8 ¼ / 6.00m (587 points).

Heptathlon shot put – 1, Loscutoff 40-1 ½ / 12.23m (620 points). SPU placer – 4, Johnson 35-6 ¾ / 10.84m (536 points).

Heptathlon high jump – 1, Brock Steingruber (MSUB) 6-2 ¾ / 1.90m (714 points). SPU placer – 2, Johnson 6-0 ½ / 1.84m (661 points).