BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Breaking a meet record is one thing – and Hannah Chang did that.
 
But if they actually kept track of stuff like this, it'd probably be safe to say that she broke a meet record ..
 
… for breaking meet records.
 
The Seattle Pacific junior ran as close to a flawless race as it is possible to do in the women's 100-meter hurdles on Friday afternoon. She got to the Civic Stadium finish line with a time of 13.76 seconds in the preliminaries of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Track & Field Championships.
 
That beat the previous record of 13.81, which was set barely five minutes earlier by Alaska Anchorage's Liv Heite. Her time beat the old standard of 13.82 that had stood for 20 years – all the way back to 2005 -- by former SPU star Danielle Ayres-Stamper.
 
As Chang was down at the starting line end of the track waiting for her heat, she saw and heard all the commotion down at the finish line as Heite's13.81 flashed on the board.
 
"I tried not to think about it because that would have made me more nervous," she said.
 




If there were any nerves, they were gone as soon as Chang left the blocks. She was clean over all 10 hurdles and led her heat from start to finish. The only question was what numbers would show up on the board next to name.
 
And then, there they were: One-three-point-seven-six.
 
"It was definitely that final push that got it done," said Chang after posting the third sub-14 of her career. "I heard Karl (Falcons head coach Lerum) screaming to get my hips up, and that definitely helped."
 
For Lerum, the only thing that thrilled him more than the time was the way Chang got there.
 
"You don't usually see a PR quite that clean," he said. "She wasn't pressing. She just ran within herself  and just ran a really pretty race. To see her go 13.76 – that's just really exciting."
 
 

Chang's time wiped out her previous PB of 13.88, which she set in winning the GNAC title last May in Ellensburg. That time ultimately got her the last spot into the NCAA meet.
 
This year, the top 22 qualifiers who declare for each individual event get to go nationals. Coming into the weekend, the No. 22 time is 13.72. Chang, whose previous best this season was 13.93 exactly two weeks ago on this same straightaway at the Pee Wee Halsell Invitational, started the week at No. 35 on the D2 list. Friday's time moved her up into a tie for 24,
 
But she knows she still needs more to get there.
 
"I knew I wanted to run my fastest in the prelims because there are not that many other opportunities to qualify for nationals," Chang said. "I just ran with my heart and it ended up going pretty well."
 
Chang and Heite will be alongside each other for Saturday's 2:35 p.m. finals.
 
"She's such great competition to have in our conference, and she's such a great hurdler," Chang said of Heite. "It's really awesome to be able to race against her.'
 
Added Lerum of their back-to-back meet records on Friday, "That's championship racing. Those two responded to each other, and I can't wait for them to line up tomorrow."
 
 

EWING SNAGS SILVER IN STEEPLE
Maya Ewing ran to a second-place finish in the 3000-meter steeplechase to help get Friday's first day of competition started.
 
Ewing finished her 7½ laps in 10 minutes, 34.06 seconds. Top-seeded Ila Davis of Western Washington won in 10:26.43.
 
Davis and Ewing were the top two seeds. Both are assured of going to nationals. Davis started the weekend No. 10 on the provisional qualifying list at 10:20.91. Ewing was No. 12 with her school-record 10:27.61 at the Bryan Clay Invitational on April 16.
 
The Clay was actually the last time Ewing ran a steeple. With that performance securing her an NCAA ticket, she has focused on training, but did run a 5000 at the Ralph Vernacchia Invitational on April 26 in Bellingham.
 
"It felt like I haven't done a steeple for a while," Ewing said. "It felt like I was by myself out there a lot of the race. (She was; Davis was comfortably in front, and Ewing was well ahead of third-place Ashley Reeck of Western Washington.) But it felt good, and it was fun. It was a good race. She (Davis) is such a good hurdler."
 
 

BROOKS ON TOP IN TIGHT MEN'S 400
SPU freshman Justin Brooks came into the meet as the No. 5 seed, but will be the No. 1 seed – by the most minimum of margins – in the men's 400-meter dash finals.
 
In his preliminary heat, Brooks got to the finish line in 47.98 seconds – just .01 ahead of Western Washington's Brian Le at 47.99. Sitting in the No. 3 spot is Western Oregon's Brennen Murphy at 48.30.
 
The top five for Saturday's eight-man finals are separated by less than a second, ranging from Brook's 47.98 to the 48.87 of Western Oregon freshman Jack Burgett, who won the second of three prelim heats.
 
AND THAT'S NOT ALL
-- Freshman sprinter Robert Joshua will be back for two finals. He's the No. 6 seed in the 100 dash at 10.72 and No. 7 in the 200 at 21.80. Joshua had the No. 7 preliminary seed in the 200, but was just No.12 coming into the 100.
-- Andrew Bell won his heat of the men's 110 hurdles to earn an automatic spot in Saturday's finals. Bell clocked 14.53 and will be the No. 3 overall seed. Central Washington freshman David Brown had the top time of 14.26. Western Washington's Hunter Flick, running in the same heat, finished in 14.44.
-- Junior Katelyn Flolo came up big in the women's steeplechase. She finished eighth in 11 minutes, 14.11 seconds. That was a drop of 14.50 seconds from her previous best of 11:28.61, set here two weeks ago at the Pee Wee Halsell Invite. She picked up a team point for the Falcons, her first time of factoring into the scoring. Last year at GNAC, she was 16th in the steeple in 12:50.50.
-- Sophomores Mikel Saxon and Mason Hrcek finished sixth and seventh in the men's pole vault. Both cleared 14 feet 3¼ inches; Saxon got the higher spot on fewer misses..
-- Senior Johanna Brown earned her second straight berth in the women's 400 dash finals with a prelim time of 58.44. She placed sixth last year.
-- Freshman Jada Sarrys missed out on a spot in the 400 finals by the slimmest of differences. Her official time was 58.60, same as Simon Fraser's Veronica Robertson for the eighth and final lane. So they went to the thousandths, and that broke the tie: 58.596 for Robertson, 58.598 for Sarrys.
-- Junior Isaac Venable set a PB of nearly 10 seconds in the men's 10,000 meters, completing 25 laps in 31 minutes, 36.56 seconds.
-- Sophomore Anna Prussian broke the 38-minute mark for the first time, and junior Matise Mulch set a sizable personal best in the women's10K.  Prussian was sixth in 37:30.81. That beat her previous best of 38:01.57 on April 3 at the Mike Fanelli Track Classic. Mulch was seventh in 37:41.71 – a drop of 17 seconds from her previous PB of 37:58.94 at last year's GNACs.

UP NEXT
The meet concludes on Saturday. Field events start at 11;00 a.m., and track events begins at 1:25 p.m. The last race is set for 5:00 p.m.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Friday, May 9, 2025
Civic Stadium / Bellingham, Wash.
 
Team scores (through 7 of 21 events) – 1, Western Washington 83; 2, Central Washington 56; 3, Western Oregon 39; 4, Northwest Nazarene 15; 5, Saint Martin's 11; T6, Seattle Pacific and Alaska Anchorage 9; T8, Montana State Billings and Simon Fraser 6.
 
FRIDAY FINALS
10,000 – 1, Kyla Potratz (WOU) 36:38.45.  SPU – 6, Anna Prussian 37:30.81; 7, Matise Mulch 37:41.71.
3000 steeplechase – 1, Ila Davis (WWU) 10:26.43. SPU – 2, Maya Ewing 10:34.06; 8, Katelyn Flolo 11:14.11.
High jump – 1, Emy Ntekpere (CWU) 5-8 / 1.73m.  No SPU.
Long jump – 1, Emy Ntekpere (CWU) 19-3½ / 5.88m.  No SPU.
Shot put – 1, Destany Herbert (NNU) 50-0½ / 15.25m.  No SPU.
Hammer – 1, Payton Elenbaas (CWU) 181-10 / 55.44m.  No SPU.
 
 
FRIDAY PRELIMINARIES
100 – 1, E'lexis Hollis (CWU) 11.33.  No SPU.
200 – 1, Emma Cannan (Simon) 23.60.  SPU – 16, Jada Sarrys 26.24.
400 – 1, Bec Bennett (WWU) 54.53.  SPU finals qualifier – 7, Johanna Brown 58.44.  Other SPU – 9, Jada Sarrys 58.60; Sophie Hanay DQ; Evey Rowland DNS.
800 – 1, Mia Crocker (WWU) 2:12.79.  No SPU.
100 hurdles – 1, Hannah Chang (SPU) 13.76 (meet record, breaks old record of 13.81 set by Liv Heite of Alaska Anchorage in Friday's first prelim heat).  No other SPU.
400 hurdles – 1, Carley Huber (CWU) 1:02.68.  No SPU.
 

NCAA MEN'S TRACK & FIELD
GNAC Championships
Friday, May 9, 2025
Civic Stadium / Bellingham, Wash.
 
Team scores (through 7 of 21 events) – 1, Western Washington 129.5; 2, Western Oregon 32; 3, Central Washington 28; 4, Alaska Anchorage 25; 5, Northwest Nazarene 24; 6, Montana State Billings 11; 7, Saint Martin's 10.5; 8, Simon Fraser 8; 9, Seattle Pacific 5.
 
FRIDAY FINALS
10,000 – 1, Ryan Clough (WWU) 30:01.82.  SPU – 11, Isaac Venable 31:36.56; 17, Nathaniel Gale 33:17.19.
3000 steeplechase – 1, Eli Williams (WWU) 8:59.46.  No SPU.
Pole vault – 1, Austin Seals (WWU) 14-9 / 4.50m.  SPU – 6, Mikel Saxon 14-3¼ / 4.35m; 7, Mason Hrcek 14-3¼ / 4.35m.
Long jump – 1, Georhm Rihari (NNU) 23-8 ¼ / 7.22. No SPU.
Shot put – 1, Noah Turner (WWU) 53-3 ¾ / 16.25m.  No SPU.
Hammer – 1, Mark Warren (WOU) 203-5 / 62.01m.  No SPU.
 
 
FRIDAY PRELIMINARIES
100 – 1, Joshua Caleb (UAA) 10.24.  SPU finals qualifier – 8, Robert Joshua 10.72.  No other SPU.
200 – 1, Joshua Caleb (UAA) 21.07.  SPU finals qualifier – 7, Robert Joshua 21.80.  No other SPU.
400 – 1, Justin Brooks (SPU) 47.98.  No other SPU.
800 – 1, Isaiah Rodriguez (WOU) 1:52.19.  No SPU.
110 hurdles – 1, David Brown (CWU) 14.26.  SPU finals qualifier – 3, Andrew Bell 14.53.
400 hurdles – 1, Maurice Woodring (WWU) 52.50.  No SPU.
 
 
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