ELLENSBURG, Wash. – School record. Meet record. Conference record.
 
And that was just for openers.
 
Vanessa Aniteye, Jenna Bouyer, Aniya Green, and Peace Igbonagwam put together a spectacular day for themselves and for the Seattle Pacific Falcons on Saturday at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships.
 
In the first event on the oval at the Central Washington Recreation Sports Complex, that foursome sped to a time of 45.88 seconds in the 4-by-100 relay. In so doing, they won the title, set three records, and put themselves into position to earn a spot in the NCAA Division II nationals.
 
That time erased the previous SPU standard of 46.23, which Igbonagwam and Bouyer also were part of in 2019 (Grace Bley and Julia Stepper were the other half of that unit). That same 2019 squad also had the old GNAC meet record of 46.32.
 
In addition, Saturday's time bettered the overall conference mark of 46.19 set in 2017 by Simon Fraser.
 
The relay effort on Saturday won the Women's Performance of the Meet award. It is the first time the honor has gone to a relay.
 
"That set the tone for the day," Aniteye said. "When we did that, it got rid of some of the nerves. We exceeded our expectations."
 
Just last Saturday at the Portland Twilight, the Falcons wound up getting disqualified on a bad exchange. They were determined not to let that happen again.
 
"Our coach always says progression, not perfection," Bouyer said. "We've been progressing since last weekend and did what we needed to do today."
 
 

Added assistant coach Kate Carlson, who works with the SPU sprinters, "Today was really organizing what they learned from the last couple weeks and how they've been able to take their fitness and turn it into quickness. It was really the culmination of how hard they've been working and their commitment to making those zones quicker in the 4-by-1 and just their awareness of what it takes to be a little bit better."
 
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE … WA-A-A_Y MORE
Aniteye wasn't done winning titles.
 
And Bouyer wasn't done setting records.
 
 

Aniteye came back less than an hour later and won the 400-meter dash for the fourth time in her career. She was the second seed for the finals with a time of 55.74 seconds from Friday's preliminaries. Simon Fraser's Emily Lindsay was the top seed at 55.64
 
But Aniteye, whose first three conference crowns in the 400 came from 2017-19 while she was at Alaska Anchorage, took the lead halfway up the backstretch and was in clear command at the finish line, stopping the watch in 54.62.  Lindsay was second in 55.34. Green, who earned her way into the finals on Friday, was seventh in 58.80.
 
"I feel very blessed and very grateful," said Aniteye (also fifth in the 200 dash finals in 24.98).. "The 400 was my thing, and that was my season goal, and I reached it. I think I set it up from the start. I really wanted to get out hard and own the race from the get-go. … I'm really happy to end my last GNACs like that."
 
 

Bouyer and Igbonagwam both came up big in the 100 and 200 finals. Simon Fraser's Marie-Eloise Leclair won both in meet record time – 11.66 in the 100, and 23.88 in the 200. But Bouyer was right on her heels in the 100, clocking 11.77 for second, and Igbonagwam took third in 11.97 – her first-ever sub-12.
 
Bouyer's time erased the 26-year-old school record of 11.79, set in 1996 by Shevonne Colebrooke. Her previous career best was 11.92, which she reached twice, and came close to in Friday's preliminaries with an 11.93.
 
In the 200, both Falcon seniors recorded NCAA provisional qualifying times: Igbonagwam's 24.33 good for second place, Bouyer's 24.35 good for third.
 
They capped their day with a second-place finish in the 4-by-400 relay in 3:48.62.
 
"Vanessa has worked her tail off and come back again and again and has put in the work at practice," Carlson said. "She has been working on her mental game as well, and I can really see it coming through. Those were huge PRs for Peace and Jenna. They just turned into even next-level sprinters today, and that was just incredible to watch."
 
STRIDE FOR STRIDE IN THE 5K
Annika Esvelt, who won the 10,000 meters on Friday night, ran to a second-place finish in the 5000 on Saturday.
 
Esvelt and Western Washington's Ila Davis quickly left everyone else behind and were basically right with each other for the first 4200 meters. Davis nudged in front with 800 meters to go, and they were essentially dead even at the bell lap. Esvelt surged ahead heading into the final turn, but Davis had just enough left down the homestretch to get to the finish line first.
 
Davis's time was 17 minutes, 13.78 seconds. Esvelt had a 17:14.07.
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
-- David Njeri did not get a chance to defend his triple jump title. He tweaked a hamstring during his final long jump attempt on Friday. He came to the track on Saturday morning, but ultimately had to scratch out before competition began. Njeri was the top seed coming in off his mark of 49-10 on April 30 at the Fresno State Invitational.
-- Ellie Rising scored in both the 800 (fifth) and 1500 (fourth).
-- Isaiah Archer broke the 49-second barrier in the men's 400 meters for the first time, going 48.88 for third place. Bryant Welch of Western Washington won in 47.85.
-- Kainoa Lee cleared a career-high 14 feet, 10¼ inches to tie for third place in the men's pole vault. His previous best was 14-10. Brad Bowman cleared that same height, also a career best, to take fifth place. (Lee got the higher spot on fewer misses). Bowman's mark was four inches better than his previous best of 14-6¼.
 
TEAM TALLIES
The Falcon women finished fourth with 109 points. Western Oregon won with 155. It was the first team title for the Wolves since 2008. Since the first GNAC outdoor meet in 2002, just three schools have won team crowns: SPU (11), WOU (5) and Alaska Anchorage (3).
 
As expected, Western Washington rolled to its third straight men's team title, this one with 240 points. Northwest Nazarene was a distant second with 129½. Seattle Pacific was ninth with 29½.
 
UP NEXT
The NCAA Division II nationals are set for May 26-28 at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. Entries are due by Monday, and the final list of accepted qualifiers will be announced on Tuesday afternoon.

 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Friday-Saturday, May 13-14, 2022
CWU Recreation Sports Complex / Ellensburg, Wash.
 
Final team scores – 1, Western Oregon 155; 2, Western Washington 130; 3, Simon Fraser 129; 4, Seattle Pacific 109; 5, Alaska Anchorage 88; 6, Central Washington 83; 7, Northwest Nazarene 75; 8, Saint Martin's 25; 9, Montana State Billings 22.
 
SATURDAY FINALS
100 – 1, Marie-Eloise Leclair (Simon) 11.66# (meet record, breaks old record of 11.76 set by Leclair in Friday's preliminaries).  SPU – 2, Jenna Bouyer 11.77# (school record, breaks old record of 11.79 set by Shavonne Colebrooke in 1996); 3, Peace Igbonagwam 11.97.
200 – 1, Marie Eloise-Leciair (Simon) 23.88# (meet record, breaks old record of 24.26 set by Leclair in Friday's prelims; overall GNAC record, breaks old record of 23.99 set by NyEma Sims or Seattle Pacific in 2007).  SPU – 2, Peace Igbonagwam 24.33#; 3, Jenna Bouyer 24.35#.
400 – 1, Vanessa Aniteye (SPU) 54.62#.  Other SPU – 7, Aniya Green 58.80.
800 – 1, Alison Andrews-Paul (Simon) 2:07.63#.  SPU – 5, Ellie Rising 2:15.98.
1500 – 1, Alison Andrew-Paul (Simon) 4:31.94#.  SPU scorer – 4, Ellie Rising 4:39.80.  Other SPU – 11, Libby Michael 4:49.81.
5000 – 1, Ila Davis (WWU) 17:13.78.  SPU scorer – 2, Annika Esvelt 17:14.07.  Other SPU – 9, Nicki Yorges 18:44.49.
4x100 relay – 1, Seattle Pacific (Peace Igbonagwam, Vanessa Aniteye, Aniya Green, Jenna Bouyer) 45.88# (school record, breaks old record of 46.23 set by Igbonagwam, Bouyer, Grace Bley, and Julia Stepper in 2019; meet record, breaks old record of 46.32 set by Igbonagwam, Bouyer, Bley, and Stepper in 2019; overall GNAC record, breaks old record of 46.19 set by Simon Fraser in 2017).
4x400 relay – 1, Simon Fraser 3:43.50# (meet record, breaks old record of 3:44.11 set by Seattle Pacific in 2013).  SPU – 2, Seattle Pacific (Peace Igbonagwam, Jenna Bouyer, Aniya Green, Vanessa Aniteye) 3:48.62#.
100 hurdles – 1, Diana Voloshin (Simon) 14.28.  No SPU.
400 hurdles – 1, McCall DeChenne (CWU) 1:01.52#.  No SPU.
High jump – 1, Jessica Neal (WWU) 5-4½ / 1.64m.  No SPU.
Triple jump – 1, Ana Popchok (WOU) 38-11¾ / 11.88m.  No SPU.
Hammer – 1, Raine Westfall (WWU) 170-1 / 51.84m.  No SPU.
 
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.
 
# NCAA provisional qualifying.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Friday-Saturday, May 13-14, 2022
CWU Recreation Sports Complex / Ellensburg, Wash.
 
Final team scores – 1, Western Washington 240; 2, Northwest Nazarene 129 ½; 3, Western Oregon 94; 4, Simon Fraser 92; 5, (tie) Alaska Anchorage and Central Washington 73; 7, (tie) Montana State Billings and Saint Martin's 44; 9, Seattle Pacific 29½.
 
SATURDAY FINALS
100 – 1, Dominique Loggins (WOU) 10.61.  No SPU.
200 – 1, Bryant Welch (WWU) 21.70#.  SPU – 8, Jeff Gordon 22.75.
400 – 1, Bryant Welch (WWU) 47.85.  SPU – 3, Isaiah Archer 48.88; 8, Evan Carpenter 50.51.
800 – 1, Aaron Ahl (Simon) 1:50.23#.  No SPU.
1500 – 1, Charlie Dannett (Simon) 3:48.12#.  SPU – 14, Jon Owen 4:00.87.
5000 – 1, Coleman Nash (UAA) 14:32.00#.  SPU – 12, Colin Boutin 15:23.91.
4x100 relay – 1, Northwest Nazarene 41.77.  SPU – 7, Seattle Pacific (Evan Carpenter, Jeff Gordon, Julius Shepherd, Darius Holmes) 43.52.
4x400 relay – 1, Western Washington 3:15.86.  SPU – 6, Seattle Pacific (Evan Carpenter, Julius Shepherd, Drew Thompson, Isaiah Archer) 3:22.71.
100 hurdles – 1, Joshua Wagner (UAA) 14.15# (meet record, breaks old record of 14.21 set in 2015 by Travis Milbrandt of Western Washington; overall GNAC record, breaks old record of 14.19 set by Milbrandt in 2016.
400 hurdles – 1, Joshua Wagner (UAA) 53.77.  No SPU.
Pole vault – 1, Jacob Thompson (CWU) 15-2 ¼ / 4.63m.  SPU – T3, Kainoa Lee 14-10¼ / 4.53m; 5, Brad Bowman 14-10¼ / 4.53m.
Triple jump – 1, Josh Schulz (STM) 47-0¾ / 14.34m.  No SPU.
Shot put – 1,  Ben Malquist (WWU) 51-5½ / 15.60m.  No SPU.
Hammer – 1, Colton Burr (NNU) 182-1 / 55.51m.  No SPU.
 
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.
 
# NCAA provisional qualifying