ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Second and third outdoors last spring. Second and third indoors this psst winter.
 
Lizzy Daugherty and Emily Thomason had had their fill of second and third.
 
How about first and second instead?
 
How about first and second, indeed.
 
The two Seattle Pacific seniors both cleared 12 feet, 4½ inches on a hot Friday afternoon to nab the top two spots in the women's pole vault at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships, with Daugherty claiming the crown on the fewer-misses tiebreaker.
 
At the 2023 GNAC outdoor meet in Monmouth, Oregon, Thomason took second place (also at 12-4 ½), and Daugherty was third at 11-10½. Then at the conference indoor meet on Feb. 20 in Spokane, Thomason took second with a career-best 12-6¾, and Daugherty was third at 12-2¾.
 
"They earned every bit of it," said Falcons assistant coach Kate Carlson, who works with the team's vaulters. "Both of them have been working so hard in practice and trying to transfer what they're doing in practice into a meet. They both came in together today and they worked together to have the right focus. They just executed at every height, and they had such focus."
 




On what easily was the warmest day of the spring, with temperatures touching 80 on the runway at the Central Washington Recreation Sports Complex, Daugherty both passed on the first four bars. Both cleared 11-6 ½ and 12-0 ½ on the first attempt. Daugherty got over 12-4 ½ on her second try; Thomason needed her third and final attempt to clear it.
 
 

When Western Washington's Anna Tran and Sydney Mohlman both went out at 12-4 ½, and pre-meet favorite Lauryn McGough of Central having gone out earlier, that left the SPU pair as the last ones alive.
 
"I feel like I was doing really well. My run was good, all my jumps felt good, and I felt I was really bringing it today," Daugherty said.
 
In addition their passion for pole vaulting, Daugherty and Thomason also share living space: They're roommates,
 
"We really did end up helping each other a lot this year," Thomason said. "When one person clears the bar (during practice), Kate just raises it up and we jump even higher. I feel like we helped each other a lot to be better vaulters."
 
Added Daugherty, "We get to see each other every day, all day, so we really get to know each other. I feel that works really well and helps us."
 
After emerging as the final two competitors, the last task at hand was to go high enough to get into the NCAA meet. A 13-footer would do it, so both passed at 12-8 ¼, and it went up to 13-0 ¼. Both had very good looks at it, but just when it appeared as if the bar would stay up there, it came down at the last possible moment.
 

"The goal was to do the best we could to win this meet and also make it to nationals," Carlson said. "They both had such incredible looks at it – Lizzy had it twice and Emily had it at least once, and that was after coming down on the bar on her head. (Thomason walked it off and was able to take another run at it.) She has been so tough. And Lizzy came in this year fitter than I've ever seen her and ready and on fire to do something.
 
"I'm so glad she was rewarded with that win. She really earned it," Carlson added.
 
While this was the final outdoor season for Daugherty and Thomason, both have one season of indoor eligibility remaining and plan to use it during the 2025 winter season.
 
"We're excited – we're going to go 1-2 again.," Thomason said..
 



SMITH'S UNFORGETTABLE FINISH
Years from now, Charisma Smith might not remember any of the first 26 times she ran the 400-meter dash for Seattle Pacific.
 
But she most certainly will remember the 27th.
 
That came on Friday afternoon when Smith, running in the first of the three preliminary heats, finished her lap around the hot CWU oval in 59.74 seconds.
 

Not 1:00-this or 1:00-that … 59.74, her first time below a minute and coming in the final individual race of her career.
 
"Honestly, it's absolutely surreal. It has been a very long time coming," Smith said. "I'd done it several times in high school. So to finally get back there was just mind-blowing. I can't even describe the feeling."
 
Of those 26 previous 400s, Smith has been in the 1:00 range in six of them, with a best of 1:00.25 as a freshman in the 2021 GNAC preliminaries. She had a pair of one-double-ohs this spring, with a best of 1:00.55 on March 23 at the Point Loma Invitational in San Diego.
 
Smith's focus wasn't actually on the clock.
 
"I went into it not thinking of the time and not having super-high expectations for myself," she said. "It was just let me go out there and give it all that I've got and see what happens."
 
Smith has two more races on Saturday, as she is slated for the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
 
SPEAKING OF THE 400 …
Smith wasn't the only Falcon coming up big in the 400 on Friday. Marissa Crane and Johanna Brown both raced into Saturday's finals.
 
Brown will be the No. 4 seed after she clocked 57.31 in her preliminary heat. That matched her career-best time, which she set right her on April 20 at the Wildcat Invitational. Brown was second in her heat.
 
Crane finished in 57.85 and will be the No. 6 seed on Saturday.

AND THAT'S NOT ALL

-- Matise Mulch, who came into the 10,000 meters seeded 10th, ran a personal-best time of 37 minutes, 58.94 seconds and moved all the way up to fifth and scored four team points for the Falcons. A sophomore, Mulch's previous best was 38:22.99 in March 2023. Her only previous 10K this season was the opener in Tacoma on March 1 when she clocked 38:38.25.
--Maya Ewing and  Brennan LeBlanc both came through with team points in their respective heats of the 3000 steeplechase. Ewing finished sixth in 11:30.69, picking up three points, and LeBlanc was seventh in 9:44.49, tallying two. Both maintained the same positions in which they were seeded.
-- Hannah Chang will be the No. 4 seed in the women's 100-meter hurdles finals. Chang clocked 14.41 for second in her prelim heat. Central Washington's Lauryn Chandler, running in Chang's heat, maintained the top seed with a 14.10. Liv Heite of Alaska Anchorage won Heat 2 and will be the No. 2 seed with her 14.34, and Western Oregon's Maliyah Thompson is the No. 3 seed at 14.34.
--The Falcon women are fifth in the team standings after Day 1 with 31 points. Western Washington has a commanding lead, 101-55 over second-place Western Oregon. The SPU men are ninth with two points. WWU also leads there, 96-49 over second-place Central Washington.

UP NEXT
The meet concludes on Saturday. Field events begin at 10:00 a.m., and track races start at 2:45 p.m. The last race is at 5:45, followed by team and individual awards at 6:00.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Friday, May 10, 2024
CWU Recreation Sports Complex / Ellensburg, Wash.
 
Team scores (through 8 of 21 events) – 1, Western Washington 101; 2, Western Oregon 55; 3, Central Washington 46; 4, Northwest Nazarene 41; 5, Seattle Pacific 31; 6, Alaska Anchorage 17; 7, Montana State Billings 14; 8, Simon Fraser 6; 9, Saint Martin's 1.
 
FRIDAY FINALS
3000 steeplechase – 1, Ila Davis (WWU) 10:41.15#.  SPU – 6, Maya Ewing 11:30.69; 16, Katelyn Flolo 12:50.50.
10,000 – 1, Meaera Nystrom (WWU) 37:01.22.  SPU – 5, Matise Mulch 37:58.94.
Pole vault – 1, Lizzy Daugherty (SPU) 12-4½ / 3.77m#.  Other SPU – 2, Emily Thomason 12-4 ½ / 3.77m# (Daugherty gets higher spot on fewer-misses tiebreaker).
Long jump – 1, Ujunwa Nwokoma (WOU) 19-2 / 5.84#.  SPU – 11, Sophie Mock 16-4¼ / 4.98m; 15, Paige Kessler 15-10½ / 4.84m.
Shot put – 1, Katie Potts (WWU) 46-4¾ / 14.14m#.  No SPU.
Hammer – 1, Destany Herbert (NNU) 162-7 / 49.57m.  No SPU.
Javelin – 1, Kaylee Wright (WOU) 153-3 / 46.71m#.  No SPU.
 
FRIDAY PRELIMINARIES
100 – 1, Marie-Eloise LeClair (Simon) 11.51.  No SPU.
200 – 1, Marie-Eloise LeClair (Simon) 23.21#.  SPU – 11, Aniya Green 25.53.
400 – 1, Kennedy Cook (WWU) 55.99.  SPU finals qualifiers – 4, Johanna Brown 57.31; 6, Marissa Crane 57.85.  Other SPU – 9, Aniya Green 58.31; 14, Charisma Smith 59.74.
800 – 1, Marian Ledesma (WWU) 2:11.48.  No SPU.
100 hurdles – 1, Lauryn Chandler (CWU) 14.10.  SPU finals qualifier – 4, Hannah Chang 14.41.  No other SPU.
400 hurdles – 1, Liv Heite (UAA) 1:02.96.  No SPU.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Friday, May 10, 2024
CWU Recreation Sports Complex / Ellensburg, Wash.
 
Team scores (through 7 of 21 events) – 1, Western Washington 96; 2, Central Washington 49; 3, Northwest Nazarene 31; 4, Western Oregon 26; 5, Alaska Anchorage 21; 6, Simon Fraser 19.5; 7, Saint Martin's 15; 8, Montana State Billings 12.5; 9, Seattle Pacific 2.
 
FRIDAY FINALS
3000 steeplechase – 1, Jeret Gillingham (WWU) 8:45.40# (meet record, breaks old record of 8:47.26 set by Ryan Brockerville of Simon fraser in 2012; overall GNAC record, breaks old record of 8:45.63 set by Micah Chelimo of Alaska Anchorage in 2012).  SPU – 7, Brennan LeBlanc 9:44.49; 13, Silas Demmert 10:22.42.
10,000 – 1, Brody Kemble (NNU) 30:46.90.  SPU – 10, Isaac Venable 33:23.07; 13, Gabe Endresen 33:52.44; 16, Nathaniel Gale 34:30.64.
High jump – 1, Jonah Groce (NNU) 6-6 / 1.98m.  No SPU.
Long jump – 1, Isaiah Webster (CWU) 23-11½ / 7.30m#.  No SPU.
Discus – 1, Liam Wall (WWU) 167-2 / 50.95m#.  No SPU.
Javelin – 1, Jarrett Chong (Simon) 210-9 / 64.25m#.  No SPU.
 
FRIDAY PRELIMINARIES
100 – 1, Joshua Caleb (UAA) 10.41#.  No SPU.
200 – 1, Joshua Caleb (UAA) 21.04#.  No SPU.
400 – 1, Lucan Brenek (WWU) 48.05.  SPU – 11, Evan Carpenter 51.70.
800 – 1, Drew Weber (WWU) 1:51.09#.  No SPU.
110 hurdles – 1, Aiden Wise (CWU) 14.68.  No SPU.
400 hurdles – 1, Josh Boast (CWU) 54.13.  No SPU.

# NCAA provisional qualifying.


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