Good things happen in threes for Simon Fraser University runner Lindsey Butterworth.
The Clan senior won three Great Northwest conference titles, including both the women’s 800-metre and mile events, at the indoor track and field championships in Nampa, Idaho on Saturday.
Butterworth, who shared a distance medley relay gold with Jennifer Johnson, Paige Nock and Chantal Desch, was named one of the outstanding female athletes at the conference meet.
The North Vancouver athlete also won the individual 800m in a time of 2:10.04 and the mile in 4:55.34 to help the women’s team to a third-place finish.
The Clan men also placed third in the team aggregate behind Cameron Proceviat’s first-ever individual conference title in the metric half-mile.
Proceviat also enjoyed a relay gold in the 4x400m with teammates Joel Webster, Stuart Ellenwood and Daniel Kelloway and a third title in the distance relay with Travis Vugteveen, Kelloway and Marc-Antoine Rouleau.
Webster also won the men’s 400m, in a quick time of 48.34, and placed third in the 200m.
Johnson, a Clan grad student, was also crowned a champion in the women’s 3,000m, running from the front of the pack in a meet record time of 9:47.64.
On the opening day of the two-day meet, freshman Vladislav Tsygankov was a surprise winner in the men’s long jump with a leap of 7.18 metres, taking the conference title by a single centimetre.
“I cannot ask for any more out of these kids,” said SFU head coach Brit Townsend in a school press release. “Some of them ran such a large amount of races and put everything out there for the team. Because of that dedication we achieved some great results.”
Desch also placed runner-up in the 400m, as did Nock at 800m and Rebecca Bassett in the 3,000m. SFU’s 4x400m women’s relay team of Desch, Nock, Monique Lisek and Alana Mussatto also finished in second place.
Bassett also earned a bronze medal in the mile, while Lisek and Kelloway both placed third in their respective 400m races. Oliver Jorgensen also finished in third place in the men’s 5,000m.
Vugteveen was a podium finisher in the mile as was Rouleau in the 3,000m. Vladislav Moldavanov also placed third in the men’s triple jump.
Other top-eight finishers for the Clan included: New Westminster’s Natasha Lazecki, with a personal-best 5.30m in the women’s long jump; Jerry He, Ella Brown, Phillippe Gravel and Kayla Lennea.
