BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Following the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Championships last weekend, the Western Washington University track & field program is set to compete at the Seattle Pacific University Final Qualifier on Saturday for the last indoor meet of the season prior to the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships.
Saturday’s meet is scheduled to begin at 4:30 pm and will be hosted at the Dempsey Indoor facility on the campus of the University of Washington. The NCAA Division II Indoor Championships are set for March 9-10 at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kansas. Prior to the indoor championships, the Vikings open the outdoor season on March 3 at the University of Puget Sound Ed Boitano Invitational.
The WWU women and men each finished 5th at the GNAC Indoor Championships last weekend, with three individual titles from two student-athletes and All-GNAC (top-3 finish) recognition in six events overall.
Senior Jasmine McMullin (Sequim, WA) was recognized as the GNAC Women’s Field Athlete of the Meet and honored with the Women’s Performance of the Meet. She was a two-event champion in the long jump (5.73m, 18-9 ¾) and triple jump (12.68m, 41-7 ¼), setting a provisional-qualifying mark in the long jump and an automatic-qualifying mark in the triple jump. Her effort in the triple jump broke her own school record as well as set both the GNAC record and GNAC Championships meet record.
McMullin’s triple jump leap bettered her previous personal-best effort of 12.22m (40-1 ¼) set in 2016 and broke the previous conference record of 12.40m (40-8 ½) set by Western Oregon’s Ashley Potter in 2012. She became the first three-time women’s indoor triple jump champion in GNAC history after previous titles in 2015 and 2016. Her long jump mark is No. 5 all-time in GNAC history and No. 3 in WWU history.
On the men’s side, junior Tupre Wickliff (Vancouver, WA/Evergreen/Clark College) took the high jump title at a height of 2.01m (6-7), a personal-best effort tied for No. 3 on the WWU top-10 list. He became the fifth WWU jumper to win the indoor high jump (sixth overall WWU high jump title) and first since Brett Watson won in back-to-back years during 2014-15.
The WWU men also had an All-GNAC performance from sophomore Cordell Cummings (Arlington, WA) in the 60m hurdles (8.35, 3rd). The WWU women had All-GNAC performances from junior Savannah Smith (Renton, WA) with a 3rd-place finish in the 200m (25.31) and junior Rachael Roberts (Woodinville, WA/Bellevue College) with a 3rd-place finish in the pole vault (3.51m, 11-6 ¼).
Entering Saturday’s meet in Seattle, the Vikings have two provisional-qualifying marks on the men’s side as well as McMullin’s long jump provisional mark and triple jump automatic-qualifying mark on the women’s side.
Junior J.T. Konrad (Mead, WA/Mount Spokane) had a season-best and provisional-qualifying pole vault mark of 4.73m (15-6 ¼) set at the UW Open, ranking tied for 39th nationally. Freshman Bryce Bryant-Leat (Spokane, WA/Lewis and Clark) recorded a provisional-qualifying qualifying shot put mark of 15.99m (52-5 ½) at the GNAC Indoor Championships, ranking 52nd nationally.
The long jump performance for McMullin is tied for 23rd nationally while her triple jump effort is 3rd nationally as one of three automatic-qualifying marks.
In the most recent U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) regional polls, the WWU women moved up two spots from 11th to 9th while the men moved up one spot from 9th to 8th.
Coming Up: The outdoor season gets underway for WWU with the Ed Boitano Invitational at the University of Puget Sound on March 3. The indoor championships will take place March 9-10 at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kansas. WWU will also compete at the PLU Open on March 10 for its second meet of the outdoor season.
— @WWUTFXC —
