Cali Cull (Marysville, Wash.) won the women's triple jump and was named Female Freshman of the Year, highlighting Seattle University's participation on the second and final day of the 2012 Great West Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships Sunday at the Westwood Sports and Fitness Complex.
Cull picked up the conference championship after posting a top leap of 11.11 meters (36' 5.5"), one day after finishing fourth in the long jump. Amanda Luna (Beavercreek, Ore.) also picked up a point for Seattle U with an eighth-place finish in the triple jump with a top effort of 9.84 meters (32' 3.5").
For the second straight day, Erik Barkhaus (Whitefish Bay, Wis.) finished second in an event, this time in the men's 3000 meter run after posting a time of 8:33.81, just 1.25 seconds behind the winner. Matthew McClement (Bellingham, Wash.) finished fifth in the 3000 meter run with a time of 8:35.88, followed by Baxter Arguinchona (Spokane, Wash.) in ninth place in 8:52.11, Kelton Sears (Maple Valley, Wash.) in 11th place in 8:55.72, and Collin Overbay (Spokane, Wash.) in 13th place in 8:59.84.
In the women's 3000 meter run, Hannah Mittelstaedt (Maple Valley, Wash.) finished third with a time of 10:16.95, and Sarah Bolce (Sacramento, Calif.) earned an eighth place finish in the event with a time of 10:27.86. Bolce also finished sixth in the women's one mile run with a time of 5:11.86, followed by Sophie Curatilo (Honolulu, Hawaii) in seventh place in 5:13.60 and Jennifer Stolle (Seattle, Wash.) in eighth place in 5:19.13.
Miriam Mboya (Shoreline, Wash.) lowered her own school record time in the women's 60 meter dash, finishing third in the event with a time of 7.83 seconds. In the women's 4x400 meter relay, the quartet of Elena Collins (Eugene, Ore.), Meeghan Bergmann (Portland, Ore.), Katie Tougas (Edmonds, Wash.), and Candice de Sauvage (Foster City, Calif.) finished in third with a time of 4:03.95.
Overbay earned a sixth place finish in the men's one mile run with a time of 4:26.25, while Sears crossed the finish line in ninth place with a time of 4:30.98. Dan Auld (Eugene, Ore.) finished in sixth place in the men's 800 meter run with a time of 1:58.57 in the finals.
Austin Thummel-Gravitt (Puyallup, Wash.) finished sixth in the men's 200 meter dash with a time of 23.21 seconds and tied for seventh in the men's 400 meter dash after posting a mark of 51.92 seconds. Duncan MacKay (Renton, Wash.) finished eighth in the men's 60 meter dash after racing down the track in 7.29 seconds. MacKay and Thummel-Gravitt joined with Colton Misono (Newcastle, Calif.) and Zachary Schlachter (Tigard, Ore.) for a sixth place finish in the men's 4x400 meter relay with a time of 3:29.76.
Elsewhere in the field events, Nick Bever (Seattle, Wash.) finished fourth in the men's triple jump with a top leap of 12.92 meters (42' 4.75"), while Mahmoud Hassanyn (Redondo Beach, Calif.) finished eighth with a best effort of 12.23 meters (40' 1.5"). For the women, Ariel Johnson (Moscow, Idaho) cleared 2.45 meters (8' 0.5") to finish second in the pole vault, while Bethany Richards (Shoreline, Wash.) finished ninth in the shot put with a top toss of 11.08 meters (36' 4.25") and Luna finished 15th in the event with a best effort of 8.41 meters (27' 7.25").
"We've made some very big improvements from last year to this. There were a lot more second place finishes than we've ever had. Generally we placed higher than we did last year, so we're moving in the right direction," Seattle U head coach Trisha Steidl said. "There are definitely some things we need to improve upon so we can not only turn those seconds into firsts, but also so we have more top 3-5 finishes and fewer 6-8 finishes. This sets us up well heading towards the outdoor season, though, and I can tell by what I saw over the past two days that big things are going to happen this spring."
The Seattle University women finished fourth in the team standings with 79 points, while the men finished in sixth place with 57.5 points. Utah Valley cruised to the conference titles in both men's and women's indoor track and field.
The Seattle University track and field team will start to train for the outdoor season, with the first competition coming Sunday, March 18, at the Oregon Preview in Eugene, Ore. The 2012 Great West Conference Outdoor Track and Field Championships will take place May 10-12 in Humble, Texas.