A pair of Simon Fraser University sophomores set the tone at the season-opening University of Washington Indoor Preview track and field meet on the weekend.
Vladislav Tsygankov and Marc-Antoine Rouleau each paced the Clan with solid results, leading a total of four athletes who met NCAA Div. II provisional qualifying marks for nationals.
Tsygankov finished fourth in the long jump, the longest being 7.16 metres, while Rouleau clocked a provisional and personal best time of 8:11.17 in the 3000m race, good enough for sixth overall. He currently ranks second in NCAA Div. II competition.
“I’m very happy with our results today,” said Clan head coach Brit Townsend. “We competed so well against top NCAA schools and got a great start to the indoor season. We have great chemistry and everyone is inspired by our top performers.”
Also meeting the national marks were junior distance runner Rebecca Bassett, who placed 16th in the women’s 3000m with a time of 9:40.31, and Valda Kabia, who set hers in the 60m dash. Kabia’s time of 7.72 seconds met the standard by 1/10th of a second and was the fastest time in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference this year.
Just missing the provisional qualifying times for their respective events were Joel Webster, who posted conference-leading finishes in both the 200- (22.35 seconds) and 400m (49.26) men’s dashes, and Carlos Varga, who secured a personal best 1:55.44 in the 800m race.
The Clan will return to UW in two weeks as more athletes will attempt to earn qualifying marks for the NCAA Div. II nationals.
