The Simon Fraser University men’s 400-metre relay team played the role of champion and spoiler at the Great Northwest conference track and field championships last week.
The Clan relay team of senior Stuart Ellenwood, junior Cameron Proceviat and sophomores Joel Webster and Daniel Kelloway edged pre-meet favourite Alaska Anchorage in the championship final, nipping the runner-up school by just .08 seconds with a meet record time of 3:13.84 in the final race of the conference meet in Monmouth, Oregon on Saturday.
SFU’s record run denied Anchorage the overall team aggregate and Western Washington, which placed fourth in the race picked up fourth place for at least a tie atop the men’s standings. WWU edged Anchorage by two points to win the team championship in what turned out to be the closest overall finish in conference history.
Kelloway also won an individual title in the men’s 400m, taking first place by a mere 13/100ths of a second, beating out runners-up Adam Commandeur of UAA and teammate Webster, the top-ranked sprinter by just fractions of a second. Kelloway clocked 47.62 seconds in the metric quarter-mile, while Webster was third at 48.41. Proceviat finished in second place in the men’s 800m.
Lindsey Butterworth, the NCAA Division II national leader in the 800m, repeating as women’s champion for a second straight season in a winning time of 2:06.67. She also helped the Clan relay team of Alana Mossatto, Monique Lisek and Chantel Desch to victory in the 4x400m race in a time of 3:45.64.
In the individual women’s 400m, Desch placed a close second to Seattle Pacific’s Jahzelle Ambus in a time of 56 seconds flat.
SFU’s Oliver Jorgensen also defended his conference title in the men’s steeplechase with a season-best winning time of 9:08.42 in the 3,000m event on opening day of the two-day competition.
Jennifer Johnson led the women’s 5,000m from start to finish, winning by three seconds over Central Washingon’s Dani Eggleston in a time of 17:04.46.
In the men’s 1,500m, Marc-Antoine Rouleau was second and Clan teammate Travis Vugteveen was fourth.
Peter Behnecke also placed runner-up in the men’s hammer following a personal-best throw of 52.33 metres.
Vladislav Tsygankov was also second in the men’s long jump with a leap of 7.29m. Western Washington’s Brett Watson broke a 49-year-old school record to win the event with a jump of 7.36m.
