The improvement of the track and field program continued Monday, as eight school records were broken at the 2008 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships at ’s Track at the .
d'Andre Benjamin () accounted for 14 points individually in the meet, setting school records in both the 60 meter hurdles and the long jump. Benjamin finished second in the hurdles in 8.73 seconds, sixth in the long jump with a top leap of 6.58 meters (21’ 7.25”), and sixth in the 200 meter dash with a time of 22.79 seconds.
On the women’s side, Katie Hansen () earned the best individual result with a third place finish in the 5000 meter run, setting a new school record with a time of 18:20.76. Mara Becker (, ) broke her own school record in the high jump by clearing 1.56 meters (5’ 1.25”), good enough for fourth place, while Rachael Johnson () finished seventh in the 800 meter run in 2:19.85, also a school record.
Christopher Fussell () set a school record in the 60 meter dash during the preliminaries with a time of 7.13 seconds. He followed that with a time of 7.15 seconds in the finals to finish second, with Travis Glover (, ) finishing fifth in 7.27 seconds and Daniel Sullivan () finishing eighth in 7.56 seconds. Glover broke the school record in the 200 meter dash, finishing fourth in 22.79 seconds. Sullivan finished fifth in 22.96 seconds, Fussell finished seventh in 23.07 seconds, and Loyal Allen, Jr. (), finished ninth in 23.32 seconds.
Nicholas Alvarado () finished fifth in the 5000 meter run in 15:44.41 after finishing ninth in the mile run in 4:30.58. Allen, Sullivan, Fussell, and Glover finished fourth in the men’s 4x400 meter relay in 3:28.62, while the quartet of Hans Heitzinger (, ), Michael Van Nuland (, ), Graham Miller (), and Benjamin finished eighth in the distance medley in 11:21.36.
Courtney Cabebe (Kihei, Hawaii) finished sixth in the pole vault, clearing 3.21 meters (10’ 6.25”), and then she joined Johnson, Erin Moon (Honolulu, Hawaii), and Rachel Purcell (Mission Viejo, Calif.) in setting a new school record in the women’s 4x400 meter relay with a time of 4:09.45, finishing in fifth place in the event. Hansen teamed with Rachel Yorkston (, ), Greta Stickney (, ), and Elizabeth Wolf () for a sixth place finish in the distance medley relay in a time of 13:58.13.
Other Seattle University competitors in the conference meet included Jude Anthony Martinez (Hagatua, Guam) in the 400 meter dash (13th ? 52.27) and the high jump (no height), Robert Poshusta (Bremerton, Wash.) in the 60 meter hurdles (13th ? 9.70), Udoka Odoemene (Des Moines, Wash.) in the long jump (11th ? 20’ 5.25”) and the triple jump (9th ? 40’ 9.5”), and Lindsay Currier (Beaverton, Ore.) in the women’s shot put (16th ? 26’ 5.5”).
The men finished in fifth place with 48 points, while the women finished in sixth place with 23 points. won the men’s team title for the first time since 2004, while Seattle Pacific remains the only school to win the women’s team title in the five-year history of the meet.
will compete on the indoor track one more time, at the SPU Last Chance Meet on Saturday, March 1, at the Dempsey Indoor Track. The team will then begin the outdoor season Saturday, March 8, at the Peyton Invitational hosted by the of in