The Seattle University track and field team came close to conference titles in five events Saturday as the Great West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships got underway at the Westwood Sports and Fitness Complex.
In the women's long jump, Katie Tougas (Edmonds, Wash.) finished second with a top effort of 5.38 meters (17' 8"), just one-quarter of an inch behind event winner Morgan Pressley of Houston Baptist. Cali Cull (Marysville, Wash.) also scored for the Redhawks with a fourth place finish with a top leap of 5.15 meters (16' 10.75").
The next close calls for Seattle U came in the 5000 meter run, as sophomore Hannah Mittelstaedt (Maple Valley, Wash.) finished second in the women's race with a time of 17:40.90, just over four seconds behind Angela Baker of Utah Valley. In the men's race, Erik Barkhaus (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) finished second by just over four seconds with a time of 14:43.42, only 9/10ths of a second off the school record he set two weeks ago. Matthew McClement (Bellingham, Wash.) finished fourth in 14:52.85, Graham Kinzel-Grubbs (Portland, Ore.) crossed the finish line in eighth in 15:20.09, and Baxter Arguinchona (Spokane, Wash.) finished 12th with a time of 15:37.18.
The women's distance medley relay team of Jennifer Stolle (Seattle, Wash.), Meeghan Bergmann (Portland, Ore.), Sarah Bolce (Sacramento, Calif.), and Sophie Curatilo (Honolulu, Hawaii) finished second with a time of 12:27.02, only 5/100ths of a second behind Houston Baptist. The men's distance medley relay quartet of Dan Auld (Eugene, Ore.), Zachary Schlachter (Tigard, Ore.), Collin Overbay (Spokane, Wash.), and Kelton Sears (Maple Valley, Wash.) were only 41/100ths of a second behind the team from Texas-Pan American, finishing second with a school-record time of 10:25.41, almost nine full seconds faster than the previous mark.
"The good and, at the same time, frustrating part is that we got a lot of second place finishes today, with a couple of them being extremely close. On the one hand it's great to have so many second place finishes, on the other, it's tough to not get that championship position. There were quite a few people who competed really well today. Tomorrow is a new day for going after that championship spot and we definitely have a couple of people who could be in contention," Seattle U head coach Trisha Steidl said.
Kaytie Bateman (Chehalis, Wash.) scored for Seattle U in two events, first finishing sixth in the pentathlon with 2,947 points, just nine points off her own school record. Bateman then finished sixth in the high jump after clearing a height of 1.47 meters (4' 9.75"). Stephen Squatrito (Phoenix, Ariz.) picked up points for the men's team in the pole vault, clearing 4.25 meters (13' 11.25").
Miriam Mboya (Shoreline, Wash.) qualified for the women's 60 meter dash finals after posting a time of 7.86 seconds in the preliminaries, while Duncan MacKay (Renton, Wash.) advanced to the finals in the men's 60 meter dash with a time of 7.23 seconds. Austin Thummel-Gravitt (Puyallup, Wash.) qualified for the finals in both the men's 200 meter dash with a time of 22.92 seconds and in the men's 400 meter dash after winning his heat in 51.69 seconds. Auld advanced to Sunday's final in the 800 meter run after posting a time of 1:57.69 in the preliminaries.
In other action on the track, Tougas posted preliminary times of 8.08 seconds in the 60 meter dash and 26.98 seconds in the 200 meter dash, while Mboya finished the 200 meter dash preliminaries with a time of 27.27 seconds. In the women's 400 meter dash preliminaries, Elena Collins (Eugene, Ore.) crossed the finish line with a time of 61.01 seconds and Candice de Sauvage (Foster City, Calif.) posted a time of 61.92 seconds.
MacKay posted a time of 23.40 seconds in the men's 200 meter dash, while Schlachter finished second in his heat of the 400 meter dash with a time of 52.05 seconds. Colton Misono (Newcastle, Calif.) crossed the finish line in the men's 800 meter run with a time of 2:00.87.
Elsewhere in the field events, Mahmoud Hassanyn (Redondo Beach, Calif.) finished 13th in the men's long jump with a top effort of 5.89 meters (19' 4"), followed by Nick Bever (Seattle, Wash.) in 14th place with a best mark of 5.83 meters (19' 1.5"). Bethany Richards (Shoreline, Wash.) finished in 14th place in the women's weight throw with a top toss of 11.69 meters (38' 4.25"), with Amanda Luna (Beavercreek, Ore.) in 15th place with a best effort of 11.31 meters (37' 1.25").
In the team standings, the Seattle U women are in fourth place with 35 points, just one point behind Houston Baptist. The Redhawk men currently sit in fifth place with 26.5 points, close to third-place Houston Baptist and fourth-place Texas-Pan American. Utah Valley holds the lead over North Dakota in both the men's and the women's team standings.
The 2012 Great West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships will continue for Seattle University Sunday, Feb. 25, at 8:30 a.m. local time with the triple jump.