Behind the performances of Vladislav Tsygankov and Nathan Mah, the Simon Fraser University track and field team climbed the charts at the 2017 Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) Indoor track and field championships in Nampa, Idaho last week.
Tsygankov, a junior, was named Man of the Meet after capturing two golds over two days. He repeated as champion in the long jump with a leap of 7.32 metres and followed it with the men’s 400-metre title, with a time of 48.01 seconds.
The Moscow native became the first athlete in GNAC history to win both the long jump and 400m at the conference championships.
He was also a member of SFU’s 4x400m relay team, following Mah as the second leg in a silver-medal result. Also part of the
second-place finish were Joel
Webster and Daniel Kelloway, with a posted time of 3:15.09.
Mah, a Burnaby Central alumnus, completed the 200m dash with a career-best 22.04 to finish third overall, just 0.02 out of second spot.
The men’s team went on to finish the event fourth overall with 77 points.
It was all part of a terrific weekend for SFU at the indoor championships, hopefully setting the stage for next month’s NCAA indoor nationals.
Ella Brown, Chantel Desch and Addy Townsend led the way on the women’s side, picking up gold medals in their respective events to lift the Clan women into second overall in the aggregate total with 120.5 points, after standing fifth on Day 1.
Brown, a senior, won the women’s triple jump with a distance of 11.54m in what was her first career win with SFU.
Desch established a new personal best in the 400m with a time of 56.01 seconds, which was the fifth-fastest time among all NCAA Div. 2 athletes this season. A year ago, the Abbotsford runner finished third at the GNAC championships.
For a second straight year, Townsend collected the GNAC 800m title in 2:12.09, more than a second quicker than her nearest rival.
She was a key part of SFU’s successful defence of the distance medley relay, crossing the finish line in 12:05.77. Joining the sophomore in the race were Sophie Dodd, Alana Mussatto and Paige Nock.
With Desch in for Nock, the foursome also took second in the 4x400 with a time of 3:47.00.
Earning a pair of medals each were teammates and race rivals Katherine Lucas and Valda Kabia.
The duo ripped up their personal best times in the 200m
finals, tying for second with an identical 24.41.
Lucas also picked up silver in the women’s 60m with a personal best time of 7.63, just ahead of third-place Kabia, who also set a new personal best finish in 7.64.
“I’m not disappointed,” said SFU head coach Brit Townsend. “We finished as high as we ever have on both sides, and I really couldn’t have asked for more out of our athletes today. We had some outstanding individual performances by the four winners, but even going down the list, it seemed like everyone found another level (Saturday)”
Also picking up medals for SFU were first-year Diana Voloshin, who counted silver in the women’s 60m hurdles with a personal best time of 8.71, and Kelloway, who finished third in the men’s 400m with a time of 48.42.
