ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Add another distance – and another title – to Annika Esvelt's collection.
 
The Seattle Pacific sophomore cruised to victory on Friday evening in the 10,000 meters at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships.

On the oval at the Central Washington Recreation Sports Complex Esvelt's time of 36 minutes, 32.30 seconds put her across the finish line 1 minute, 47.43 seconds ahead of runner-up Kalen Belton from Northwest Nazarene
 
The conference crown was Esvelt's first outdoors and her third overall. At the GNAC indoor meet in February at The Podium in Spokane, she won the 3000 and the 5000, each of them by 15 seconds. She went on to place eighth in the 5000 at nationals.
 
 

Esvelt was under no pressure to meet or beat her entry time of 34:20.76, which she ran on April 14 at the Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, California, and which currently ranks No. 9 in NCAA Division II. She lapped each of the 12 other runners at least once, and was two-plus laps ahead of those who finished seventh through 13^th.
 
Esvelt will go for another long-distance sweep on Saturday when she races in the 5000. Her entry time of 16:14.31 is 1:45 ahead of second-seeded Ila Davis from Western Washington.
 
SPEAKING OF THE 10,000
Colin Boutin ran to a seventh-place finish in the men's 10,000 – and it was faster than he had ever run in a GNAC race.
 
 

Boutin came across the line in 32 minutes, 3.17 seconds. This was his fourth 10K at a conference meet, and his time was 25 seconds better than his previous best of 32:28.66, which he set as a sophomore in 2019.
 
On Friday, Boutin stayed with the lead pack through the first 5000 meters before the runners began to separate.
 
Boutin is entered in the 5000 on Saturday afternoon.
 
DAUGHERTY SNARES 2^ND IN POLE VAULT …
Falcons sophomore Lizzy Daugherty and Northwest Nazarene's Kinsey Yenor came into the meet tied for the best mark in the GNAC this year at 12 feet, 4 inches.
 
They finished competition on Friday tied again, this time at 12 feet, 3¾ inches. But Yenor went home with the title on the fewer-misses tiebreaker.
 
 

Yenor entered the competition at 10-11¾, getting over that bar, as well as the next three, on her first attempt, therefore having no misses at heights lower than her final clearance.
Daugherty came in at 10-6, missed on her first try, then made it on her second. She subsequently got over at 10-11¾ and 11-3¾ on her first attempts, missed her first one at 11-7 ¾, but got it on her second, then made 11-11 ¾ on her first.
 
The second-place finish capped a solid couple of weeks for Daugherty. Prior to last Saturday's Linfield Open in McMinnville, Oregon, she had never gone higher than 11-2¼ outdoors Then came the 12-4 effort, an improvement of 13¾ inches on her outdoor mark. (She has a high of 11-7 indoors.)
 
SPU wound up with three pole vault placers. Madison Licari was sixth at 10-11¾, and Charlie Hill took seventh at 10-6.
 
… AS DOES IGBONAGWAM IN THE LONG JUMP
On her very first long jump attempt, Peace Igbonagwam popped a 19-footer, going 19-0¾. That stood up through the first three rounds, although Western Washington's Matty Lagerwey came very close at 19-0½ on her second try.
 
 

Moving onto the finals for three more jumps, Igbonagwam and Lagerwey remained 1-2 after the first one. Then in the next round, Western Oregon's Jenelle Hurley leaped past both of them at 19-5½, and that ultimately was enough to give her the win, with Igbonagwam taking second.
 
Igbonagwam is tied for No. 14 on the NCAA Division II provisional qualifying list heading into the this final weekend, which includes three conference meets and several last chance / final qualifier meets around the country,
 
STEPPING UP IN THE SPRINTS
At the conference meet, sprints always have been a strong suit for the Falcons, and Friday was no exception.
 
Jenna Bouyer and Peace Igbonagwam raced to the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes in the preliminary heats. In both races, Bouyer came within one one-hundredth of a second of her personal bests: 11.93 in the 100 (11.92 twice, most recently in last year's GNAC prelims), and 24.62 in the 200 (24.61, also in last year's prelims).
 
Igbonagwam set a pair of PBs. She clocked 12.05 in the 100 (12.17 as a freshman in the 2019 GNAC meet), and 24.70 in the 200 (24.77, again as a freshman at GNAC).
 
The only one faster than either of them was Simon Fraser's Marie-Eloise Leclair in both events. Leclair came in top-seeded, and will be again for Saturday's finals thanks to her 11.76 in the 100 and 24.26 in the 200. Both of her times were meet records.
 
Vanessa Aniteye will join all of them in the 200, and also will race for the 400 title. She's the No. 5 seed in the 2 with her prelim time of 25.23. In the 4, Aniteye will be the second seed behind Simon Fraser's Emily Lindsay. She had a 55.64 to win the second heat on Friday; Aniteye had a 55.74 in the first heat. Those two came into the meet as the top two, with Aniteye at 54.60 and Lindsay at 55.01.
 
Sophomore Aniya Green also made the 400 final, tied for the seventh-best prelim tie of 58.59. That was a career-best, her second in seven days. She broke 59 for the first time last Saturday in Portland with a 58.88.

 
ARCHER IS RIGHT THERE IN THE MEN'S 400
Freshman Isaiah Archer is within reach of two milestones on Saturday: becoming Seattle Pacific's first champion in the men's 400 since 2006, and breaking the 49-second mark for the first time.
 
Archer won his preliminary heat in a career-best 49.06 on Friday. That makes him the No. 2 seed for finals close behind Western Washington's Lucan Brenek, who won in 48.95. Archer's previous best was 49.17 just last Saturday at the Portland Twilight, a time that made him the No. 1 seed for prelims. Brenek ran a full second faster than his fifth-seeded entry time of 49.96.
 
Also earning a place in the finals as the No. 7 seed is sophomore Evan Carpenter, with a career-best 50.04.
 
Jeff Gordon will be the No. 5 seed in the men's 200, having gone 22.43 on Friday.
 
TEAM TALLIES
Heading into Saturday, Western Oregon leads the women's standings with 79 points. Western Washington is next with 66. Seattle Pacific is sixth with 31.
 
On the men's side, Western Washington is out in front with 92, followed by Northwest Nazarene with 65. SPU has 7.
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
--Ellie Rising will be the No. 4 seed in the women's 800 finals after her preliminary time of 2:15.95. Alison Andrew-Paul of Simon Fraser remains the overwhelming favorite to win. She cruised to a 2:11.25 in her prelim heat.
-- David Njeri placed fourth in the men's long jump with a personal-best 22:10¾. His previous best was 22-9 at the West Coast Relays on April 1. He'll go for his second straight triple jump title on Saturday morning.
 
UP NEXT
The meet resumes at 10:15 a.m. on Saturday with the men's triple jump. Track races start at 2:45 p.m. with the women's 4-by-100 relay. The last race of the day is the men's 4-by-400 at 5:45 p.m., with the awards ceremony set for 6:00 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Friday, May 13, 2022
CWU Recreation Sports Complex / Ellensburg, Wash.
 
Team scores (through 8 of 21 events; remaining 13 events are Saturday) – 1, Western Oregon 79; 2, Western Washington 66; 3, Northwest Nazarene 38; 4, Alaska Anchorage 35; 5, Central Washington 32; 6, Seattle Pacific 31; 7, Montana State Billings 16; 8, Simon Fraser 8; 9, Saint Martin's 7.
 
FRIDAY FINALS
10,000 – 1, Annika Esvelt (SPU) 36:32.30#.  No other SPU.
3000 steeplechase – 1, Ila Davis (WWU) 10:31.55#.  No SPU
Pole vault – 1, Kinsey Yenor (NNU) 11-11¾ / 3.65m.  SPU – 2, Lizzy Daugherty 11-11¾ / 3.65m (Yenor wins on fewer misses tiebreaker); 6, Madison Licari 10-11¾ / 3.35m; 7, Charlie Hill 10-6 / 3.20m.
Long jump – 1, Jenelle Hurley (WOU) 19-5½ / 5.93m#.  SPU – 2, Peace Igbonagwam 19-0¾ / 5.81.
Shot put – 1, Moana Gionotti (WOU) 45-3½ / 13.80m.  No SPU.
Discus – 1, Avery Fisk (CWU) 142-7 / 43.47m.  No SPU.
Javelin – 1, Kaylee Wright (WOU) 149-6 / 45.57m#.  No SPU.
 
FRIDAY PRELIMINARIES
100 – 1, Marie-Eloise Leclair (Simon) 11.76#.  SPU finals qualifiers – 2, Jenna Bouyer 11.93; 3, Peace Igbonagwam 12.05.  No other SPU.
200 – 1, Marie-Eloise Leclair (Simon) 24.26#.  SPU finals qualifiers – 2, Jenna Bouyer 24.62; 3, Peace Igbonagwam 24.70; 5, Vanessa Aniteye 25.23.  No other SPU.
400 – 1, Emily Lindsay (Simon) 55.64#.  SPU finals qualifiers – 2, Vanessa Aniteye 55.74#; T7, Aniya Green 58.59.  No other SPU.
800 – 1, Alison Andrews-Paul (Simon Fraser) 2:11.25#.  SPU finals qualifier – 4, Ellie Rising 2:15.45.  No other SPU.
100 hurdles – 1, Diana Voloshin (Simon) 14.40.  No SPU.
400 hurdles – 1, McCall DeChenne (CWU) 1:02.30.  No SPU finals qualifiers.  Other SPU – 11, Johanna Brown 1:07.71; 14, McKenzie Fletcher 1:09.02.
 
# NCAA provisional qualifying.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Friday, May 13, 2022
CWU Recreation Sports Complex / Ellensburg, Wash.
 
Team scores (through 7 of 21 events; remaining 14 events are Saturday) – 1, Western Washington 92; 2, Northwest Nazarene 65; 3, Montana State Billings 21; 4 (tie) Saint Martin's and Western Oregon 19; 6, Simon Fraser 18; 7, (tie) Alaska Anchorage and Central Washington 16; 9, Seattle Pacific 7.
 
FRIDAY FINALS
10,000 – 1, Cole Nash (UAA) 31:11.39.  SPU – 6, Colin Boutin 32:03.17; 16, Brennan LeBlanc 33:29.74; 18, Gabe Endresen 33:59.72.
3000 steeplechase – 1, Macauley Franks (WWU) 9:00.76#.  No SPU.
High jump – 1, Steven Schmidt (NNU) 6-8¼ / 2.04m.  No SPU.
Long jump – 1, Ethan Sterkel (WWU) 23-11 / 7.29m#.  SPU – 4, David Njeri 22-10¾ / 6.98m.
Discus – 1, Forrest Cross (MSUB) 159-0 / 48.47m.  No SPU.
Javelin – 1, Laurenz Waldbauer (NNU) 215-3 / 65.62m#.  No SPU.
 
FRIDAY PRELIMINARIES
100 – 1, Dominique Loggins (WOU) 10.82.  No SPU finals qualifiers.  Other SPU – 9, Jeff Gordon 11.09.
200 – 1, Hunter Braseth (NNU) 21..94.  SPU finals qualifier – 5, Jeff Gordon 22.43.  No other SPU.
400 – 1, Lucas Brenek (WWU) 48.95.  SPU finals qualifiers – 2, Isaiah Archer 49.06; 7, Evan Carpenter 50.04.  No other SPU.
800 – 1, Drew Weber (WWU)_ 1:49.48#.  No SPU finals qualifiers.  Other SPU – 17, Drew Thompson 2:01.34.
100 hurdles – 1, Joshua Wagner (UAA) 14.22#.  No SPU.
400 hurdles – 1, Austin Albertin (CWU) 54.13.  No SPU finals qualifiers.  Other SPU – 14, Julius Shepherd 59.28.
 
# NCAA provisional qualifying