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Six Burnaby university athletes qualify for GNAC championships in season opener

Six members of the Simon Fraser University Clan track and field team earned automatic berths into the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet, while another 10 athletes were provisional qualifiers.

Six members of the Simon Fraser University Clan track and field team earned automatic berths into the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship meet, while another 10 athletes were provisional qualifiers.

Lindsey Butterworth turned in an impressive performance setting the standard in both the 800 metres and one-mile race.

In the 800 m, Butterworth narrowly edged teammate Sarah Sawatzky in a time of 2:13.49. Michaela Kane finished in fourth place in the 800m with a time of 2:17.78.

Kane finished the one mile in second place more than five seconds behind Butterworth's winning time of 5:09.15.

Leah Regan also qualified provisionally with a third-place finish in the one mile in 5:18.70.

Kim Doerksen qualified for SFU in the 3,000 m competition.

Mercedes Rhode and Charlotte Crombeen were also provisional qualifiers in the long jump with jumps of 5.03 m and 5.02 m, respectively.

Jade Richardson finished seventh in Washington and earned a provisional qualification with an 11.14m result in women's shot put.

Freshman Aisha Klippenstein also qualified provisionally in the triple jump.

On the men's side, Ryan Brockerville led SFU to a No. 1 ranking in the 3,000 m, equaling his personal best from last season.

Freshman Stuart Ellenwood ran a personal-best in the 400 m, which was good enough for a first-place ranking in the event.

Both athletes qualified for the GNAC championships with their performances.

Keir Forster also had a strong run in the 3,000m, finishing fifth in a qualifiying time of 8:39.49.

Anton Humeniuk finished with a provisional qualifying time of 9:08.19 in the 3,000 m, as did Yubai Liu in the 800 m and Dennis Nicolas in the long jump.

The men's and women's track and field teams will be back in Seattle on Jan. 27 for the University of Washington indoor invitational meet.