The SeattleU men picked up seven points in the 3000 meter run, as Erik Barkhaus (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) finished in fifth place with a time of 8:47.27, followed by Nicholas Alvarado (San Francisco, Calif.) in sixth place in 8:49.96. Sarah Bolce (Sacramento, Calif.) picked up a point on the women's 3000 meter run after finishing eighth in 10:31.82.
Christopher Fussell (Las Vegas, Nev.) finished just 1/100ths of a second off the school record in the men's 60 meter dash with a time of 6.96 seconds to qualify for the Saturday finals. Zach Stanfield (Adna, Wash.) also qualified for the finals after posting a time of 7.02 seconds. In the women's 60 meter dash, Alyssa Lout (Tempe, Ariz.) finished 15th overall with a time of 8.33 seconds.
Later in the session, Stanfield posted the third-fastest time in the 200 meter dash to qualify for the finals on Saturday, winning his heat in 22.33 seconds. Lout competed in the women's 200 meter dash preliminaries, finishing 18th overall after posting a time of 28.55 seconds.
Tom Mezzera (San Francisco, Calif.), entering the meet with the top conference time in the 400 meter dash, barely qualified for the finals on Saturday, finishing eighth in the preliminaries in 51.33 seconds. Chris Stephens (Seattle, Wash.) also reached the finals in the 400 meter dash after a sixth-place finish in a time of 51.05 seconds, while Daniel Sullivan (Tukwila, Wash.) finished in 12th place with a time of 51.98 seconds.
In the women's 400 meter dash, Meeghan Bergmann (Portland, Ore.) finished in 10th place with a time of 60.42 seconds, with Rachel Purcell (Mission Viejo, Calif.) right behind her in 11th place in 60.52 seconds and Clare Obradovich (Tigard, Ore.) finishing in 15th place overall with a time of 62.92 seconds.
In the first running event of the day, the distance medley, the men's team of Chris Auld (Eugene, Ore.), Jude Martinez (Hagatna, Guam), Dan Auld (Eugene, Ore.), and Kelton Sears (Maple Valley, Wash.) finished in sixth place in 10:34.82. The women's quartet of Obradovich, Lout, Jennifer Stolle (Seattle, Wash.), and Rachel Yorkston (Bellingham, Wash.) also finished in sixth place after posting a time of 13:25.07.
Senior Mara Becker (Fairbanks, Alaska) continued her solid performance in the high jump, clearing 1.60 meters (5' 3") to finish in a tie for fourth place. In the men's long jump, Ty Jaros (Eugene, Ore.) finished 13th overall with a top leap of 6.11 meters (20' 0.5"), while Martinez posted a 15th place finish after a top effort of 5.79 meters (19'). Becca Urbany (Damascus, Ore.) finished 16th in the women's long jump with a top leap of 4.43 meters (14' 6.5"), and Amanda Luna (Beavercreek, Ore.) posted a top jump of 3.89 meters (12' 9.25") for a 17th place finish.
"We learned a lot today about how to be successful in this type of meet," head coach Trisha Steidl said. "We will take that with us to tomorrow's events and hopefully be even stronger."
In the team standings, the Seattle University women are presently sixth with 8.5 points, while the men sit in eighth place with 10 points. South Dakota and Utah Valley are tied for the lead in the women's team competition with 80 points each, and the host Coyotes lead the men's competition with 55 points.
The Great West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships conclude Saturday, beginning with the conclusion of the men's heptathlon at 9:00 a.m. CST. Seattle University's first event will be the men's triple jump at 9:30 a.m. local time. Live results and video can be accessed by going to: http://orgs.usd.edu/track/greatwest/.