Simon Fraser University's Helen Crofts had another stellar day for the Clan running her first 400-metre race of the year at the University of Washington Open in Seattle on Sunday, passing all her Great Northwest Athletic Conference competitor's times to take the lead in the conference for that event. Her time of 55.69 made provisional standard for the NCAA national championships.
The Clan distance team improved their marks considerably in the 800m event as the women were able to qualify two more athletes for the GNAC championships, Kayla Lennea and Abbey Vogt of Burnaby.
The two runners join Crofts, Lindsey Butterworth, Michaela Kane, Sarah Sawatzky and Kansas Mackenzie in the rankings, putting SFU women at first, third, fourth, fifth, seventh, 11th and 14th in the conference rankings.
Butterworth, Kane and Sawatzky were all able to improve on their times in that event at the Open, running 2:11.89, 2:12.12 and 2:12.29, respectively.
Mackenzie raced her first mile event of the year at the meet in a time of 5:06.79, which moves her into third position heading into next weekend's conference championship. Kirsten Allen also moved into third position in the 3000-metre in a time of 10:07.25.
The Clan women were also successful in the field as Ryley Carr made provisional conference standard in the weight throw with a toss of 12.93-metres. Jade Richardson moved into fourth spot in the conference in the shot put, with a throw of 12.46-metres.
On the men's side, Cameron Proceviat of Burnaby ran a season's best time of 1:56.02 in the 800m to move into eighth place in the conference and James Young improved on his mile time, moving into sixth place in the Great Northwest with a time of 4:15.50. Senior Keir Forster made provisional standard in the mile in a time of 4:23.97.
Earlier in the weekend, the Simon Fraser University men's and women's track teams were in action this weekend at the Husky Classic indoor track meet, where they raced an elite field of NCAA Division I competitors.
The team was led by Crofts, who improved on her division-leading 800m time by over one second, crossing the line seventh in the competition in a time of 2:07.34.
Butterworth was able to secure provisional standard for the NCAA national championships and extended her conference-leading time in the mile, racing 4:58.17.
Andrea Abrams had an excellent performance for the Clan in the 60-metre hurdles, finishing in 15th place with a personal-best time of 8:59, just two-hundredths of a second off national qualifying time.
Two more SFU athletes were also able to secure Great Northwest Athletic Conference qualifying marks as Jerry He jumped 6.45 metres in the long jump and Dkay Ayivor jumped 1.88m in the high jump to move into fifth place in the GNAC rankings.
Other top Clan performances at the two-day meet were Keir Forster, who placed 11th in the 3000m, as well as Sawatzky and Kane in the 800m.
