SPOKANE, Wash. – Aggressive … and tactical. Careful … and reckless.  Sprinting … while hurdling.
 
Annika Esvelt, Andrew Bell, and Hannah Chang found just the right balance on Tuesday afternoon.
 
Esvelt ran to victory in the mile and 3000 meters, Bell capped a phenomenal freshman season by winning the men's 60-meter hurdles, and Chang added an indoor 60 hurdles title to her outdoor crown in the 100s on the final day of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track & Field Championships.
 
That capped a productive two days for the Falcons inside The Podium. They headed for home with five titles (four on Tuesday plus Maya Ewing's in the women's 5000 meters on Monday).
 
They also rewrote three school records: another one by Bell in the hurdles, one in the women's pole vault by Lizzy Daugherty and Monday's sub-7 second performance by Robert Joshua in the men's 60 dash, the first SPU athlete ever to do that.
 
 

"They came in and lined up the best efforts they had to give for the past couple of days," head coach Karl Lerum said, "and that's what we aspire to do."
 
In addition to sweeping the men's and women's hurdles titles, SPU swept the three long-distance races on the women's side with the mile, 3K and 5K.
 
"Eric (Hansen, SPU's distance coach) had noted that was a possibility," Lerum said. "But you've still gotta do it, and those kids took advantage of their opportunities."
 
Added Hansen, "As a coach or athlete, I've never been part of a team that was able to win the mile, the 3K and the 5K at the conference meet. We sat down and talked about it, and they went out and executed perfectly."
 
SHE CAN RUN SHORT AS WELL AS LONG
Esvelt is one of those runners for whom the longer the distance, the better she is.
 
But she can handle the short stuff, too. Last May, she was third in the GNAC outdoor 1500 meters. Then on Tuesday, having run the mile just once in her college career (and that one was outdoors), Esvelt was placed in the first (slower) of the two heats because she did not have an entry time.
 
 

She quickly left everyone else behind – way behind – and it became a race against the clock. Esvelt crossed the finish line in 4 minutes, 51.18 seconds.

Then it was a waiting game to see how the second heat would play out. That one had top-seeded Rachael Watkins of Simon Fraser at – ironically enough – 4:51.18, and Western Washington's Sophie Wright at 4:52.16.
 
From the get-go, it quickly became clear that neither of them nor anyone else was going to match Esvelt. Her first three splits on the banked 200-meter oval were 36.94, 1:11.42, and 1:47.11.  The leading splits on the first three laps of the second heat were 41.47, 1:23.80, and 2:04.83.
 
"I knew I had a shot at winning in the slower heat if I just went out as fast as I could," said Esvelt, who was selected as the Female Track Athlete of the Meet. "So I was aiming for 36s (for splits). I fell off that pace a little bit, but I was really happy to win it. I was going as hard as I could.
 
"It's definitely hard (to be so far in the lead) – if I had a couple pushing me, I could have gone a little faster," she added. "But I think it was easier than what the other girls had to do in the other heat because they basically had a sit-and-kick race."
 
The 3000 was a battle between Esvelt and Watkins almost the entire way. Esvelt led by 16 hundredths at 1000 meters and by 18 hundredths at 2000 meters. It was on the 13th of the 15 laps when she put the hammer down, stretching her lead to 2.33 seconds with two laps left. At the bell, Esvelt was four-plus seconds in front and won by nearly seven seconds, 9:43.33 to 9:50.73.
 
"She put some pressure on me, but I was pretty sure she couldn't hang with me," Esvelt said after earning her third 3K title. "So I kept pressing down the gas a little bit faster and eventually dropped her."





A BATTLE OF THE B's – AND THERE'LL BE MORE
The men's 60 hurdles final put two of the leading freshmen in the GNAC right next to each other: SPU's Bell and Central Washington's David Brown. They had met once before, in the preliminaries at the UW Invitational in Seattle on Jan. 32.
 
Brown was better that day, clocking his personal-best 8.08, while Bell crossed in 8.23. On Monday, they were in the same GNAC preliminary heat, and Bell had the edge, 8.10 to 8.21.

 

That put Bell into Lane 4 and Brown into Lane 5 for Tuesday's finals. Bell burst out of the blocks, clipped the fourth hurdle, but regained his footing and got to the wire first in 8.01 – his sixth time of breaking the SPU record in seven races. Brown was second in 8.12.

Bell became the first SPU men's champion in the 60 hurdles. The highest previous placer was Peyton Harris (third) in 2017.
 
"I was kind of nervous because at the last UW meet, I raced (Brown), was in the same heat with him, and he beat me," Bell said. "I didn't want to lose to him again. I was thinking as much as I could to really drive and be as fast as I can."
 
Under guidance from coach Karl Lerum, Bell has become more aggressive between the hurdles. And if that means occasionally making contact with one, then so be it.
 
"Definitely a little reckless," Bell said of Tuesday's race. "I pushed really hard out of my blocks and stopped holding back, in a sense. I tapped Hurdle 4, almost fell over, stumbled into Hurdle 5 and barely cleared it cleanly. But I had so much momentum, I was able to carry it forward."
 




MAKE IT A PAIR FOR CHANG
As she crouched in her starting block for the 60 hurdles final, Hannah Chang was ready to go. But the timing system and the starting gun weren't connected. So officials had to recall the start.
 
"I just tried to keep my composure the best I could," Chang said.
 
Once it did start, Chang took charge. She did touch the fourth of the five hurdles, but had enough to beat second-seeded Liv Heite of Alaska Anchorage in the lane next to her, 8.60 to 8.77. In Monday's prelims, they were separated by just two-hundredths: 8.72 for Chang, 8.74 for Heite.
 
"I had my best start all seas and felt really fast," said Chang, who was fourth in the finals the past two years. "Coach (Lerum) and I really wanted to work on sprinting instead of hurdling. I have a tendency to not sprint as hard when I know that I'm hurdling. So just keeping that flat speed into the hurdle races was a big factor for me."
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
--The 13-foot pole vault bar proved elusive again for Lizzy Daugherty. She did, however, add to her school record, clearing 12 feet, 10 ¼ inches to take second place. Emily Thomason was fourth at 11-10, and freshman Kaitlyn Askay was sixth at 11-4 ¼.
 

-- Until Monday, no Falcon man had ever broken seven seconds in the 60-meter dash. Now, freshman Robert Joshua has done it twice. He went 6.94 in the prelims, then came back with a 6.95 in Tuesday's finals, giving him seventh place.
-- Maya Ewing, coming off her title in the 5000 on Monday, had enough left in the tank on Tuesday to take fifth in the 3000. Ewing was in 13th place with 1000 meters to go, then used her kick to surge past eight of the runners in front of her.
-- Speaking of surging, that's what sophomore Anna Prussian did in her heat of the 3K. She was eighth with 1000 to go and came back to win the heat in 10:26.41.
-- Senior Johanna Brown and freshman Evey Rowland went 6-7 in the finals of the women's 400. Brown broke 58 seconds indoors for the first time, finishing in 57.97.
-- Freshman Justin Brooks was fifth in the men's 400 in 48.87.
--The Falcons finished fifth in the women's team standings with 74 points. The men were ninth with 28. Western Washington won both the men's and women's titles with identical scores of 143 points.
-- SPU has brought home at least one women's individual conference champion since the GNAC started sponsoring indoor track in 2004.
 
 
NCAA MEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 17-18, 2025
The Podium / Spokane, Wash.
 
Final team scores (through 17 of 17 events) – 1, Western Washington 143; 2, Central Washington 117; 3, Western Oregon 114; 4, Northwest Nazarene 77; 5, Simon Fraser 56; 6, Alaska Anchorage 48; 7, Saint Martin's 35; 8, Montana State Billings 32; 9, Seattle Pacific 28.
 
 
TUESDAY FINALS
60-meter dash – 1, Joshua Caleb (UAA) 6.66 (meet record, breaks old record of 6.70).  SPU – 7, Robert Joshua 6.95.
200 – 1, Joshua Caleb (UAA) 21.07 (meet record, breaks old record of 21.18).  No SPU.
400 – 1, Brennan Murphy (WOU) 47.81.  SPU – 5, Justin Brooks 48.87.
800 – 1, Johan Correa (CWU) 1:48.83.  No SPU.
Mile – 1, Keeton Sanchez (WOU) 4:11.69.  SPU – 9, Nathan Korth 4:34.42; 10, Jonathan Lieb 4:35.85.
3000 – 1, Kevin McDermott (WWU) 8:15.30.  SPU – 17, Isaac Venable 8:57.33; 23, Nathaniel Gale 9:23.86; 24, Ben Sheirbon 9:35.41.
60 hurdles – 1, Andrew Bell (SPU) 8.01 (school record, breaks old record of 8.10 set by Bell in Monday's preliminaries).  No other SPU.
4x400 relay – 1, Western Oregon 3:15.40.  SPU – Seattle Pacific DNF.
Triple jump – 1, Isaiah Webster (CWU) 50-0 / 15.25m.  No SPU.
Shot put – 1, Noah Turner (WWU) 51-5 / 15.67m.  No SPU.
 
MONDAY FINALS
5000 – 1, Kevin McDermott (WWU) 14:38.56.  SPU – 10, Isaac Venable 15:28.24; 12, Silas Demmert 16:15.63.
4000 distance medley relay – 1, Northwest Nazarene 10:01.63.  SPU – 6, Seattle Pacific (Nathan Korth, Robert Joshua, Jonathan Lieb, Nathaniel Gale). 10:53.26.
High jump – 1, Cal'von Baker (CWU) 6-7½ / 2.02m.  No SPU.
Pole vault – 1, Drew Klein (CWU) 15-3 / 4.65m.  SPU – 4, Mason Hrcek 13-9¼ / 4.20m; 6, Mikel Saxon 13-3½ / 3.50m.
Long jump – 1, Isaiah Webster (CWU) 23-10¾ / 7.28m.  No SPU.
Weight throw – 1, Mark Warren (WOU) 63-8¾ / 19.42m.  No SPU.
 
MONDAY PRELIMINARIES
60-meter dash – 1, Joshua Caleb (UAA) 6.67.  SPU finals qualifiers – 7, Robert Joshua 6.94 (school record, breaks old record of 7.00 set by David Njeri on Feb.11, 2022).  No other SPU finals qualifiers.  Other SPU – 18, Tarelle Hunter 7.16.
200 – 1, Joshua Caleb (UAA) 20.97.  No SPU finals qualifiers.  SPU – 11, Robert Joshua 22.35; 21, Tarelle Hunter 22.97.
400 – 1, Brennen Murphy (WOU) 48.50.  SPU finals qualifier – 5, Justin Brooks 48.90.  No other SPU.
800 – 1, Isaiah Rodriguez (WOU) 1:52.51.  No SPU.
60 hurdles – 1, Andrew Bell (SPU) 8.10 (school record, breaks old record of 8.13 set by Bell on Jan. 31). No other SPU.
 
HEPTATHLON
Final standings (through 7 of 7 events) – 1, Gabe Burchfield (WOU) 5,106; 2, Kaden Miller (WWU) 4,393; 3, Ryan Fenley (MSUB) 3,964; 4, Owen Windrope (WWU) 2,962; Drew Klein (CWU) DNF.  No SPU.
 
Monday events
60-meter dash – 1, Drew Klein (CWU) 7.21 (837 points).
Long jump – 1, Drew Klein (CWU) 22-0 ¾ / 6.72m (748).
Shot put – 1, Gabe Burchfield (WOU) 40-11 ¾ / 12.49m (636).
High jump – 1, Gabe Burchfield (WOU) 6-3 ½  1.52m (731).
 
Tuesday events
60 hurdles – 1, Gabe Burchfield (WOU) 8.51 (838 points).
Pole vault – 1, Gabe Burchfield (WOU) 14-4 / 4.37m (722).
1000 – 1, Owen Windrope (WWU) 2:47.88 (788).
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 17-18, 2025
The Podium / Spokane, Wash.
 
Final team scores (through 17 of 17 events) – 1, Western Washington 143; 2, Central Washington 114; 3, Simon Fraser 100; 4, Western Oregon 92; 5, Seattle Pacific 74; 6, Alaska Anchorage 57; 7, Northwest Nazarene 33; T8, Saint Martin's and Montana State Billings 23.
 
TUESDAY FINALAS
60-meter dash – 1, E'lexis hollis (CWU) 7.32.  No SPU.
200 – 1, Marie-Eloise LeClair (Simon) 23.69.  No SPU
400 – 1, Bec Bennett (WWU) 54.65.  SPU – 6, Johanna Brown 57.97; 7, Evey Rowland 1:01.04.
800 – 1, Mia Crocker (WWU) 2:11.62.  No SPU.
Mile – 1, Annika Esvelt (SPU) 4:51.18#.  Other SPU – 9, Alexa Gossett 5:17.08; 12, Madelyn Buckley 5:20.77; 14, Nicki Yorges 5:22.98.
3000 – 1, Annika Esvelt (SPU) 9:43.88.  Other SPU – 5, Maya Ewing 10:16.19; 11, Anna Prussian 10:26.41; 25, Matise Mulch 11:01.45.
60 hurdles – 1, Hannah Chang (SPU) 8.60.  No other SPU.
4x400 relay – 1, Simon Fraser 3:44.72.  SPU – 4, Seattle Pacific (Jada Sarrys, Johanna Brown, Evey Rowland, Hannah Chang) 3:57.05.
High jump – 1, Kora Cook (WWU) 5-8 / 1.73m.  No SPU.
Pole vault – 1, Lauryn McGough (CWU) 13-4 ½ / 4.08m.  SPU – 2, Lizzy Daugherty 12-10¼ / 3.92m (school record, breaks old record of 12-10 set by Daugherty on Dec. 14, 2024); 4, Emily Thomason 11-10 / 3.61m; 6, Kaitlyn Askay 11-4¼ / 3.46m.
Triple jump – 1, Emy Ntekpere (CWU) 40-4¼ / 12.30m.  SPU – 9, Sophie Hanay 34-9¾ / 10.61m.
Shot put – 1, Jessica Polkinghorn (WWU) 46-2¾ / 14.09m.  No SPU.
 
MONDAY FINALS
5000 – 1, Maya Ewing (SPU) 17:24.40#.  Other SPU – 10, Anna Prussian 18:19.29.
4000 distance medley relay – 1, Simon Fraser 12:09.48.  SPU – 5, Seattle Pacific (Nicki Yorges, Evey Rowland, Ella Milanovich, Madelyn Buckley)12:545.55.
Long jump – 1, Emy Ntekpere (CWU) 19-3 ¼ / 5.87m.  SPU – 10, Tia Cates 17-0½ / 5.19m; 13, Sophie Hanay 16-5¼ / 5.01m; 15, Sophie Mock 15-8¼ / 4.78m.
Weight throw – 1, Jocelyn Saribay (STM) 52-9¼ / 16.08m.  No SPU.
 
MONDAY PRELIMINARIES
60-meter dash – 1, Marie-Eloise LeClair (Simon) 7.35.  No SPU finals qualifiers.  SPU – 18, Sarah Bailey 8.22.
200 – 1, Marie-Eloise LeClair (Simon) 23.74.  No SPU finals qualifiers.  SPU – 14, Jada Sarrys 26.00; 19, Sarah Bailey 27.02.
400 – 1, Bec Bennett (WWU) 54.85.  SPU finals qualifiers – 6, Johanna Brown 58.55; 8, Evey Rowland 59.73.  Other SPU – 10, Jada Sarrys 1:00.63.
800 – 1, Sophie Wright (WWU) 2:16.50.  No SPU.
60 hurdles – 1, Hannah Chang (SPU) 8.72.  No other SPU finals qualifiers.  Other SPU – 16, Tia Cates 9.78; 17, Sophie Mock 10.51.
 
PENTATHLON
Final standings – 1, Amariyah Clay (WOU) 3,436; 2, Macy Clemons (WOU) 3,435; 3, Vivien Liessfeld (UAA) 3,380; 4 Carley Huber (CWU) 3,308; 5, Amity Deters (WOU) 3,183; 6, Nicole Avery (WWU) 2,946; 7, Alexa Mcgowan (WOU) 2,635; 8, Daisy Macias (UAA) 2,576; 9, Joy Ayodeji (CWU) 2,220.  No SPU.
 
60 hurdles – 1, Macy Clemons (WOU) 9.21 (867 points)
High jump – 1, Amity Deters (WOU) 5-5 ¾ / 1.67m (818).
Shot put – 1, Vivien Liessfeld (UAA) 36-3 / 11.05m (598).
Long jump – 1, Vivien Liessfeld (UAA) 18-7 ¾ / 5.68m (753).
800 – 1, Carley Huber (CWU) 2:25.65 (748).
 
 
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